New Age Legends: The Tale of a Wanderer
by M.A. Cunningham
Summary: Hey everybody! This is Three-Dog! Lord Master of GNR, local disc jockey and your current leader of The Good Fight. Tune in and join me as I tell the tale of everyone's favorite angel in the flesh, our messiah, our Max LeBay. Join me as I tell the epic of a young boy turning into a man, a tale of love, adventure, heartbreak and happiness as we follow Max's exploits through D.C.
1. Life Is Good

**_I know I said I'd put the Lone Wanderer and Lucy West together, but since they didn't know each other for 19 years or so, the first couple chapters shall explore the relationship between Max LeBay and Amata Almodovar. _**

* * *

Hey everybody, this is Three Dog, your friendly neighborhood disc jockey. What's a disc? Hell if I know, but I'm gonna keep talking anyway. Today, my children of the wastes, marks the day where three glorious years ago, our beloved savior of the wastes, the Lone Wanderer, kicked the Enclave's butt right out of Project Purity and gave the Capital Wasteland and everyone in it free, clean, and oh so wonderful water. It's also been three years since anyone has seen our good Wanderer and three years since there have been reports of Enclave sightings. Good and bad news, folks, I know.

I know you guys want to listen to some of the great music that I, Three Dog, have to offer, but in celebration of The Lone Wanderer's greatest accomplishments, I'm going to tell you the life of our beloved Lone Wanderer from his days of luxury in Vault 101, to his final days seen in the Wasteland. I've made this story with the collection of memories, experiences and feelings told to me by The Savior himself, and his father, James when the two of them were with me three years ago. Now, grab your popcorn, take a seat by your radio and enjoy the tale I like to personally call "The Legend of The Lone Wanderer!"

* * *

Max LeBay was born on July 13, 2258. Now, he wasn't like most kids… or maybe he was in the sense that his mom, Catherine, died shortly after he was born due to cardiac arrest. Catherine was a dreamer. Not only that, but she was also a scientist with big hopes for the future with her son and her husband, James. Sadly, she left the land of the living, her son, and husband along with it. The two of them, though, survived and prospered.

Max lived his life in Vault 101, a nuclear fallout shelter underground made almost two centuries before his birth. Inside the Vault was very sanitary; it contained fresh food, clean water, breathable air, and immaculate living conditions. Outside the Vault, however, was a world of wastelands. A desolate, inhospitable land that swallowed anything not prepared or fit enough to survive in it; all of it caused by a nuclear war between the United States and China that lasted no more than two hours yet destroyed the Earth. Max and James were one of the few lucky ones living in the luxury of a Vault-Tec Vault where -what stood between them and the harsh new world was a four-foot thick, gear-shaped door.

_Nobody ever leaves Vault 101 and nobody enters._

At just one year old, Max was able to not only walk but able to get out of his playpen! This would always make James laugh, knowing that his son was already thinking of escape before even having the capability to properly sound out words. A bit before this time, Max met Amata Almodovar, daughter of the Overseer of Vault 101, and the two would become best friends for life. It's not as if they couldn't be, anyways. They were only a few months apart and the all Vault dwellers ran into each other every day, for half the day.

"Want to go play with Amata, Max? She probably woke up from her nap," James would say to his year-old son. They would then walk over to the Overseer's office, Max and Amata would play together while James and the Overseer, Alphonse Almodovar, would take business within the Vault. The job James held at the Vault was medicinal. He was the Vault's doctor, physician, and surgeon, should the need arise; James was very good at what he did.

A couple years pass and the two would spend all day together. They would pretend to be roaming the world, going on adventures and fighting the mutants of the Wastes. The happy duo couldn't live in paradise without there being an evil snake, though. Since the day he could talk, Butch DeLoria has made it his duty to berate and attack the two kids.

At max's 10th birthday party, not only did he receive a surprise party planned by Amata, his Pip-Boy 3000 wrist computer, a Grognak the Barbarian comic book, a baseball hat, a dark poem but also, he received a fight from Butch. Max was able to defend himself, swinging punches as if the world would go to ruin if it did (it was in ruin, anyways). What Max cherished the most on that day was that his father and his father's friend, Jonas, built Max a hidden shooting range down in the reactor level of the Vault, and a BB Gun that he can use down there whenever he wanted.

After his fight with Butch, his dad told him he had a special surprise for him down in the reactor level and Max ran out of his party in the Mess Hall and made a mad dash to the reactor level where Jonas greeted him.

"What are you doing down here? You know kids aren't allowed down in the reactor level."

"I'm not a kid! I'm ten years old! Besides, my dad said you had a present waiting for me down here…"

"Well, yes we do," Jonas said," in fact, it's right through this door! You have to close your eyes first!" As Max closed his eyes, James came out from behind him opened a large door where the three entered. When they went into the room and closed the door behind them, James put something in Max's hands and opened his eyes. What he had in his hands was an old, lever-action BB gun with a practice range made of circular metal plates on poles.

"Is this for me?"

"Yes. This whole room is yours. You can come down here with this BB gun and practice whenever you have free time. Just make sure the Overseer doesn't see it, or else he'll take it away and melt your range down for scrap. Go ahead, take a few shots." Max went up the edge of the range, blocked off by a couple of boxes, and loaded his BB gun and took a few shots. Each BB he shot hit the plate dead center and made the plate spin 360 degrees around the pole. "Nice shot, kiddo!"

Jonas asked," Do you guys' hear that?" Then, a Radroach came out of a nearby ventilation shaft and onto the range.

"Be careful, son! It's a Radroach! Try a few careful shots at it." Max brought up his weapon, aimed down the plastic iron sights, and shot two quick shots. The first hit the bug's shell and it turned its body toward the direction of its assailant fast enough that the second shot collided with its tiny head, blowing it to pieces. "Nice shot!"

"That'll be one less roach to deal with," Jonas said," Quick! Let me get a picture with dad and the roach killer." Max felt pretty excited. He killed a Radroach with relative ease. _Wait until Amata hears this! _He held up his gun fiercely, stood next to his father and had the moment immortalized with the help of Jonas. _Today, was a good day_, he thought. _Life is good._

_We're born in the Vault, we live in the Vault, and we die in the Vault._

It wasn't long before he would bring Amata with him into his secluded area of the reactor level and show her what his father and Jonas have given him for his birthday, and soon, they were down there every day. It was mostly Max who used the BB gun but Amata would take the toy rifle and shoot down the range with it, albeit, miss half her intended targets half the time. Yet, they still had fun. They created little adventures down there where mutants kidnapped Amata and Max had to go save her.

This make-believe adventure was a favorite among the two, who played it well into the beginning of their teen years. At 13, when their bodies were changing, and their hormone levels rising, the game changed a little.

"Max! Help me! It has me in a cage!" Amata wasn't in a cage but under a small pile of boxes that surrounded her, their imaginations creating a cage.

"Don't worry, Amata! I'll save you!" Max ran behind a box, crouched and pressed his body against it, and peeked out of the corner to shoot at the imaginary creatures. He shot a couple of them before he yelled that they were able to hit him in the side. Max didn't surrender; he was going to save his best friend from the Mutants, no matter the cost. Once he felt that he killed all the Mutants, he ran to where the Mutants held Amata captive, and threw the top boxes off, revealing a beautiful, blossoming thirteen year old girl. "I told you I would save you."

Normally, Amata would reward her knight in shining armor by batting her eyelashes and say "My hero" in a southern accent, to where Max would take his turn being the captive and Amata would fight to save him. That didn't happen.

When Max pulled Amata from captivity, she wrapped her arms around her neck and said, "My hero," in the usual southern accent but what happened next caught Max by surprise. She loosened her grip on him and looked at him, their faces an inch apart, before she leaned in and kissed him. Max dropped his toy rifle, held her close, and kissed back. They kissed and kissed until Amata pulled back, said it was getting late, and walked out of their room, giving him a quick kiss before her departure. It was only 7:15 but he knew it would've been awkward if she stayed after their kiss… their kiss… their kiss?

Max was dumbfounded that Amata, of all people, kissed him. Not just your "accidental" kiss or the "curious" kiss but this kiss was one filled with love and passion and... and...and Max liked it! He stayed down in his range for another 45 minutes, reflecting what happened not an hour ago while shooting down the simple range. Now, he would protect Amata, not only from their imaginary Muties, but also from anything that dared to harm her. That kiss they shared…

_Life was good._


	2. The GOAT

Every day since Max got his first from Amata, he would share a kiss with the Vault Overseer's daughter. It was no secret among the kids of the Vault that the two obviously had a thing for each other. They saw it in the way they looked at each other, in the way that they spend all day together and how they protected each other from anything and everything. It was a secret lying in wait until unearthed by time. Eventually, the children thought, the Overseer would find out and rip Max a new one. Max knew that day would come, but until then, he would enjoy the company of his best friend and love.

When they were around 15, Max started sneaking into Amata's bedroom at night, spending the hours they should be sleeping holding her and kissing her, then leaving before anyone else would wake up. At night, the Vault's security forces would patrol the Vault, making sure people were obliging to their curfew, and nothing was amiss. Yet, Max was able to do all sort of things to traverse the Vault without detection. Max would get out bed and not bother to put his shoes on, knowing that his socks would provide an almost noiseless run, so long as he kept his weight balanced to not make any noticeable vibrations.

For every door he would come across, he would take out his bobby pins and a screwdriver he found in the storage room his BB gun range was in, would slowly, and carefully pick the lock, unlocking access to the other side. He would then grab the emergency override handle on the bottom of the door and pull it up enough where he can slip through, then close it behind him. This went on for a while. In fact, Max got so good at sneaking around, he would scare Amata all the time he had a chance!

Before long, it was time for the two, along with other sixteen-year old children of the Vault to take the Generalized Occupational test, or the G.O.A.T. for short. Max woke up and groaned at his dad's reminder of taking the G.O.A.T.

"It's just something we all have to take, Max," James said while doing a check-up on his son for any sudden "sickness." "I took it, the Overseer took it, and even your friend, Amata, is taking it." How he knew how to convince Max to do things he needed to. He found out about his son's relationship with Amata when he went looking for Max and found them kissing and holding each other in the storage room he had Max's shooting range built. He promised he wouldn't tell anyone and that the pair could keep their shady relationship going on, so long as no one else walked in on them, knowing that most other people would've reported them to Amata's father.

Max blushed. "Whatever, dad." Max nearly walked out of his dad's clinic before spotting a strange bobble head. It was a blonde man in a Vault suit, holding a syringe. "What's this, dad?"

"That? It's just some old toy your mother gave me as a birthday present." Max shrugged it off and walked to class. Outside the classroom, Max spotted three people huddled around Amata. It was those damned Tunnel Snakes. A year or two after Max's tenth birthday party, Butch formed a gang with his two friends, Wally Mack and Paul Hannon Jr. They called themselves the Tunnel Snakes, donned leather jackets with their gang emblem on the back, and then set about with the goal of being the most mischievous gang in the Vault, as if there were some other gang.

"I could show you a real tunnel snake, Amata," Butch said. The fury Max felt was as if he had a miniature nuke blow up inside him, so went up, and confronted Butch.

"Leave her alone, Butch. If her dad, the Overseer," Max told him, putting extra emphasis on Overseer," found out you three were harassing her daughter, he would hold you in the brig before sending you outside into the Wasteland!" Butch seemed unmoved to this threat, whether the Overseer would actually do that or not, Butch showed no sign of caring.

"Fuck off, LeBay! Go home and cry about it to your mommy! Oh wait… you can't she's dead!" The three members of the gang started laughing at Butch's statement. Max had enough.

He spun Butch a full 180 degrees, put him in a choke hold and kicked his feet off the ground, gravity pulling Butch unto Max's strangulating arm. "Listen bitch," Max harshly whispered into Butch's ear,"I don't want you talking to Amata that way and I definitely don't _ever_ want to hear you talk about my mother that way, got it?" Butch nodded his head, while trying to pull Max's arm away from his neck. "If I hear you do either, I'll sneak into your room and slice your throat with your own switchblade! Capiche?" Butch nodded, sweat dripping down his forehead and down his cheeks.

Amata looked on in shock at what she was witnessing. She knew Max wanted to protect her and defend her but she didn't want it like this.

"Let him go, Max," Amata told him.

Max let go of Butch, who looked back at the two he just insulted and walked into class at a fast pace, the two of his gang members following suit.

"Max, I know you love me and wanted to protect me but if you defend me by attacking Butch, he'll know something is going on between us. He can tell my dad and then we won't be able to see each other anymore…" Amata looked down in pain at what the possible future could be; a future without Max was something she didn't want. Max's anger towards Butch quickly diminished as he saw Amata's eyes become teary and shiny.

"Hey, hey, hey! Nothing like that's going to happen. I won't let it happen."

"Promise?"

"I promise." Max lifted Amata's chin and gave her a deep, yet light kiss. A second after, Amata pulled away.

"We can't risk getting caught." She wiped her eyes, took a deep breath, and walked with Max into class where they both took the G.O.A.T.

Max looked at the two rows of desks around a projector, four desks in both of those rows. Amata sat in the row to the right of the projector, which was showing a Vault Boy riding a goat with the word "G.O.A.T." above the picture and the definition under it, while Max sat behind her.

Max couldn't believe some of the questions asked in the test._ Question 1:You are approached by a frenzied Vault scientist, who yells, "I'm going to put my quantum harmonizer in your photonic resonation chamber!" What's your response? _He gave a small laugh at the quote the scientist said, and answered it by saying he would sneak away, leaving the crazy man to rant alone.

_Question 4: Your grandmother invites you to tea, but you're surprised when she gives you a pistol and orders you to kill another Vault resident. What do you do?_ Considering that all the questions leading to this one asked questions absurd to Max, he decided to just get the test over with and put that he'd obey his grandmother (if he even had one, he thought) and kill the resident.

_Question 7: Oh, no! You've been exposed to radiation, and a mutated hand has grown out of your stomach! What's the best course of treatment? _Max put a hand to his stomach, the question was disturbing, especially since they put an "appropriate" picture for the question. It showed a Vault Boy near radioactive waste barrels, with a long, snake-like arm growing out of his stomach. Max shuddered at the thought of another appendage and put that he'd blow his brains. "A bullet to the head, if I ever got some kind of mutation, should put me out of misery," he thought.

Naturally, Max chose his favorite question by the end of the test. _Question 10:Who is indisputably the most important person in Vault 101: He who shelters us from the harshness of the atomic wasteland, and to whom we owe everything we have, including our lives? _All the answer choices available said, The Overseer. Max was tempted at writing down "Jesus" as his answer but remembering what their teacher said earlier in the week stopped him from doing that, and he chose the third Overseer option. _"_You don't want to know to people who "fail" the G.O.A.T. so take it seriously," their teacher, Mr. Brotch would say.

When he was done, Max got up and headed to Mr. Brotch's desk and handed him his test, saying "I thought number ten was hard. I didn't know whether it was _The Overseer _or _The Overseer. _I wish I studied for that question, you know?"

By the end of the week, Mr. Brotch had finished examining their G.O.A.T. scores and told them their jobs they would be doing for their whole lives, starting at 18. Amata received the job of supervisory track, Wally Mack apparently cheated on his test and Butch? Well…, Butch had been given the role of a hairdresser, which he corrected by yelling, "I'm a hairstylist" before storming out of class. Max received the role of shift supervisor. He thought it would be perfect for him since he could eavesdrop very easily on what other people were doing without them noticing him. Max pictured it: Sneaking up on people and scaring the living hell out of them! Plus, he'd get _paid_ to do it. Well, not paid since the vault had no currency but it would be his job to do it, therefore his responsibility and oh, how he would love that responsibility.

From the day they turned 18, Amata and Max would work during the day and sleep together at night, almost like a seasoned married couple. Max would wake up and see the love of his life lying next to him and would think, _Life was good._


	3. Into The Wastes He Goes

_**18/3/13: Sorry I haven't been on in a while and post another chapter but I've been having a sort of rough couple of days recently. I'll try of have another chapter done by the end of this week but what I did here was just add a couple more details, changed a bit of wording and tried making it a better story for you guys to read.**_

* * *

It was dark. The room he was in was very dark. He couldn't see anything except for the beautiful woman sleeping in his arms, Amata Almodovar. The Overseer's daughter was in his arms, asleep, with only a wall separating the two from the overprotective Overseer. Max LeBay checked his Pip-Boy 3000 and it showed the time as 5:13 A.M. He put down his Pip-Boy and smiled at what occurred less than 5 hours before.

Max LeBay lay on his bed within the room James and he would share. Max checked his Pip-Boy and it said it was now 11:00 at night, well into the night where he knew his father was asleep. He got up, not bothering to put on shoes and feeling the cold, hard, metal floor, he picked the lock to the bedroom door, pulled up the Emergency override latch slightly, and slipped under the small opening, before finally closing the door carefully. Max has had four years of experience traversing throughout the Vault without getting himself detected by a single person. Now, he had both speed and stealth as he made his way into Amata's bedroom in less than 5 minutes, instead of the 30 minutes he would take when first sneaking around the Vault.

When he entered Amata's room and made sure the door behind him closed and locked, he walked over to her bed and went under the covers. He lay on his left side and stared into the eyes of the only woman he was sure he would ever love.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up."

"Believe me; I was in a great hurry getting here to be with you." Since they finished school almost a year ago, their rescheduled jobs have taken up their entire day, leaving very little time for them to be together.

"Good, because I have been waiting all day for this," she said, as she climbed on top of Max and kissed him. Max gently put his hands on her cheeks and kissed back, a spark building up a fire within him. Amata snaked her hands toward the collar of Max's vault suit, took hold of the zipper, and slowly pulled it down, revealing his chest inch by inch. Suffice to say, the two stripped each other naked and made love for the very first time. After they had reached their peak and finished, the couple slept in each other's arms and smiles across their faces.

Max smiled at the best night he ever had, got up and found his clothes on the floor next to the bed. After changing, he wrote a note for Amata saying, _Thank you for everything. I love you_. He then went and left the note on Amata's clothes pile, then sneaking back into his room.

* * *

As he got into bed and got comfortable, he noticed his father wasn't in the bed opposite of him. _He probably went to work early_, he thought. A couple hours later, Max woke up to Amata shaking him frantically.

"Wake up! Come on, please wake up!" Max's eyes groggily opened and he sat up.

"Huh? Amata? Ha, funny, I was just dreaming of you."

Amata slapped Max on the cheek and said, "Now's not the time! Your dad left the Vault; my dad went insane and had the security guards kill Jonas. They're also looking for you."

"My dad left the Vault? That's impossible. No one can leave the Vault!" Max's world just collapsed. What felt like a great day just hours ago, was now destroyed as he found that his father left him alone, his friend, Jonas, has been murdered, and now he was possibly next unless he left too.

"Apparently, it's possible. To top it all off, the Radroaches decided to come out and in swarms. You have to go, now." Amata handed Max a 10mm pistol and a few magazines with bullets in them. "Here, just in case my dad's goons come after you."

Max handled the gun and fiddled with it until it felt comfortable. "Don't worry, Amata. I'll only use it in case I need to."

"Listen, you have to go to my father's office, go onto his computer, and escape the Vault through the secret tunnel in my dad's office. I have to go and try to calm down my dad before he does more stupid decisions. I'll try to meet you at the exit when I'm done." She jumped towards Max and gave him a deep kiss, hoping it wouldn't be the last the two would share. "I love you," she said as she ran out the room.

"I love you too…" Max went to his dresser and took everything he deemed important to him. He took out a sling bag and loaded some of his Vault suits, he grabbed his BB gun and shoved it in his bag, along with BB's, and he took his baseball bat and holstered it between his back and the bag. He went over to the first-aid kit on the wall, took all the stimpaks and Med-X syringes, and put them into the bag, too. He then searched under his desk for the box of Bobby pins he taped to the bottom of his desk, and put them in his pocket. He then stuffed the pistol into his suit, almost like those pre-war mob movies he would watch.

He tried walking out of the apartment he and his father shared- used to share- but bumped into Officer Kendall.

"Hold it right there!" He tried gripping Max's arm but he dodge it and kicked the officer in the stab-proof vest he wore. Max quickly took out his baseball bat and tried hitting him in the head but his helmet with a Plexiglas visor absorbed most of the blow. Officer Kendall retaliated by taking out his security baton and the two had a melee fight.

The officer tried swinging at Max's head but the young man ducked and hit the officer hard in the knee with the bottom of the bat, breaking the kneecap with a loud _snap!_ and dropping Kendall. Kendall, in a final effort to stop Max, took out his 10mm pistol and prepared to shoot until four Radroaches came out of the shadows and started tearing Kendall apart, eating him alive while the only thing the helpless officer could do was scream.

Max couldn't stand and watch the officer's body torn apart by overgrown bugs, so he swung his bat and stomped his foot on the roaches killing them. Officer Kendall reached his bloody hand out to Max as a sign for help, having chunks of flesh bitten out of him and blood pool forming under him, Max took out his pistol, opened Kendall's visor and shot him in the head in an act of mercy.

Max's hands started to tremble at what he had just done. He had taken the life of another human being… He felt disoriented at the sight of so much blood from one person. He worked with his father before but never where it involved buckets of blood, especially since Kendall's was practically painting the walls and floor. He looked at the body of the man he had just shot, adding the blood both on and around him, and threw up, not being able to withstand the actions that he just witnessed and caused. After wiping his mouth, Max pulled himself together and told himself that it was the only way he would be able to get out and search for his father.

Max took Kendall's helmet and vest as his own, while attaching the man's pistol holster to hold his own pistol. Max then took Kendall's pistol and ammo and stuffed it into his bag. He made his way through the corridor when Butch ran up to him in a panic.

"You gotta help me! My mom is trapped in there with the Radroaches!"

"Oh, boo- fricking- who. I got my own problems to deal with, Butch. I don't have time to deal with the problems you can fix yourself."

Butch looked at Max in fear. "No..., I can't go back in there. It's…, it's dark in there…, and there are roaches…"

Max looked at Butch in frustration and gave a frustrated growl before running to Butch's room. There, he saw three Radroaches attacking Ellen DeLoria as she cowered in fear on the bed. Max wouldn't let Ellen befall the same fate Officer Kendall did, took out his bat and whacked two of the roaches into the metal floor and swung at a mid-air roach so hard, its corpse flew and broke through the window looking out into the corridor. Butch came running in soon after with excitements, joy, and relief as the last of the Radroaches died by Max's hand.

"Ha-ha! You did it! You saved my mom! You're the greatest friend I can ever have." Butch began taking off his Tunnel Snake jacket and handed it to Max saying, "Look, I know I haven't been the nicest guy to you and your girl but here, take my jacket as payment for saving my mom…, and as a peace offering." The only line that stuck out was the one mentioning Amata. Did he always know about Amata? _I hope that he didn't_. Max took the jacket, put it in his bag, and continued onward.

Max passed through the place where he had his tenth birthday party and saw it infested it with ten Radroaches gathered around two mangled bodies. Not wanting the bodies to be desecrated, Max cleared out the roaches and continued. Sneaking through the corridors, he heard and smelled roaches burning and knew Andy, the strange Mr. Handy robot, was nearby. As he peeked around the corner, sure enough, Andy was there burning roaches with a security officer. Max pointed the pistol at the officer, but it was as if his gut told him to put the gun away. He cautiously walked up behind the officer, and started to choke the man with his baseball bat. Max would've kept choking the officer if Andy didn't intervene.

"Mr. LeBay! Let go of Officer Gomez this instant!" Max let go of Gomez in shock and apologized to him, saying he thought he was one of the officers ordered to go after him.

"It's alright, kid. You were lucky it was _me_ who found you- or should I say _you _who found _me_- instead of the other officers looking for you. Listen kid, you and your dad were all right in my book. Go on out of here before the others find you. They won't be as forgiving as I am." Max continued and made it to the Atrium, the center of the Vault, very close to both the Overseer's Office and the Vault tunnel. He looked around and sort of..., adjusted to the added space instead of the narrow hallways he just came out of. A couple he recognized as Tom and Mary Holden were talking about escaping like James and ran to the door leading to the Vault tunnel, but were quickly shot down by a hail storm of bullets from the two officers guarding the door.

He saw the couple as himself and Amata. He saw the Overseer ordering the killing of the two of them, should he find out they were together, more so if he found out they slept together in the room next to his! That the Overseer would order the use of lethal violence and even _murder _to stop people from leaving made Max furious. In a fit of blind rage, Max ran up to the officers, unloading 12 rounds within the two of them, several of the shots discharged entered into their vital organs and one into each of their their heads.

As his anger faded and his adrenaline diminished, Max realized he took the lives of other human beings, he took the lives of people he had been living with for the past 19 years! He felt his hands tremble and he threw up near the bodies of the dead officers. This time, he recovered quicker than he did last time, looted their bodies for their pistols, ammo, and even found a couple stimpaks on one of them. He looked over at the couple shot down and prayed they made it to a better place; that they go anywhere other than the Vault and wasteland.

Max went forth through the corridors, dispatching roaches, security guards and looted what he deemed necessary until he saw Amata. He saw her sitting on a chair, being hit and beat by Security Chief Hannon as the Overseer watched and asked her where Max was. That was enough. The Overseer ordered Jonas' murder, the murder of anyone trying to escape and the acquisition of him. Ordering Amata to be beaten was out of the question. He marched in there and shot three shots into the security chief, one hitting the officer in the neck and the two hitting him in his defenseless face, before telling Amata to leave, which she did so without hesitation. The Overseer looked at Max with an enraged expression.

"I hope you've come to turn yourself in young man! You and your father have destroyed the serenity of this Vault!"

"_We _destroyed it?" Max didn't just feel fury; he felt the rage burn in his eyes. "We didn't order people to die by the hands of your fucking pets! We didn't do jack shit to make you beat your own daughter!"

"Ah, yes. Your little romance with my daughter wasn't something that I approved of. It really took me aghast that you two had something going on, especially behind my back. All the more reason to do what I did a moment ago."

Max nearly fell back at the news just brought to him. "How did you- look! Just give me the passcode to your computer so I can leave. I'm taking Amata with me so you can't hurt her anymore, too."

"Absolutely not! When Butch DeLoria came to me with the news that he saw two kissing before taking the G.O.A.T., I knew I had to separate you two and what better way to separate you two by you dying! Guards! Over-, "He was cut off as Max smacked the Overseer across the face with his pistol, knocking him out cold. Searching through the pockets of the unconscious tyrant, he found the passcode, the key to the office and a few stimpaks. He walked out and heard crying, no doubt Amata's. Max turned into the next room and saw Jonas' lifeless body on the floor. After everything he has been through today, Max could shed no tears for his fallen friend. He walked into the room to his left and saw Amata crying, bruises swelled her face.

"Amata…"

"Max, please. Go, before he has a chance to take you away!"

"No. Amata, come with me. I don't want you to stay here with your lunatic of a father. Come with me and we'll protect each other and be together every day without the risk of your father doing anything."

"Max, I wish I could. You know I do, but I have to stay here and clean up the mess my father created. If I don't, you won't be very welcome back, if considered at all." Max stayed quiet, knowing this was true. The two took each other's hands and made their way to the Overseer's office, unlocked the secret tunnel and went through it together. The other side of the tunnel exited to the entrance to the Vault. Max walked over to the control panel, slid a lever down and the Vault door opened by a screech of grinding metal.

"You sure you don't want to come?"

"Max… you've killed people..."

"I know… can we have one final kiss at least?" Max leaned to Amata and the two shared a deep, teary-eyed kiss. Deep down, they both knew it could very well be the last they would ever have together. During their kiss, two security officers burst through the tunnel and grabbed Amata.

"Max, run! Run Max!" Amata quickly grabbed a loose, lead pipe and started to defend herself but was soon overwhelmed. Max was ready to beat the guards senseless but caught a third guard use the control panel to close the Vault door. He ran to the other side of the door and looked back to see the security guards beat Amata with their fists, feet, and batons. He could do nothing as he saw the gear-shaped 101 door close the scene and separated the two worlds.

"Amata!" Max ran to the door and started banging on it with his fists. "Amata! I will come back for you!" Max slumped down and cried, not knowing what the Overseer would do with his love and whether she'd be alive for him to see, and vice versa. He stayed on the ground of the rock tunnel for a good hour, watching the remains of people who once held signs asking for entry. Max eventually got up and made his way to the wooden door, looking back at his past home, he hoped to return one day.

He opened the door and a great and intense light like no other he had ever seen- or rather, _not_ seen- in his life instantly blinded him. He fell on his knees as the strong heat forced him to the dusty, rocky floor. Outside wasn't like in the Vault. Max instantly found out why his father would always tell him that the wasteland wasn't something he wanted him to go through. _Oh dad, why did you come out here?_

* * *

_**I would greatly appreciate any suggestions, advice and ideas as long as its constructive. Thanks for reading. Next chapter should be up soon! :D**_


	4. The First of Many Yet To Come

Max LeBay looked around, saw nothing but the dull gray of the scorched earth, rock formations, and burned down remains of the pre-war human population. He felt nothing but the intense heat of the Sun and the fear of this new land, which he learned in school, was inhospitable and showed no mercy to those ill prepared to deal with its many dangers. He took off the helmet he took from Officer Kendall, the first person whose life he took, and dropped it to the ground, feeling a bit cooler. As he looked down from the small elevation in front of Vault 101, he saw a road, albeit broken.

He looked back at the small tunnel entrance leading to the Vault and wondered if he would ever return to his past home alive or even return welcomed back at all. He jumped from the small ledge and followed the road into a small, burnt pre-War town, which a nearby road sign identified as Springvale. He looked around and saw an old Red Rocket gas station with its old, iconic red rocket still standing strong, unaffected physically from the elements, but affected cosmetically as nearly the whole structure was red with rust than with paint. He imagined kids running around with whatever toys they had back then. Cars turned the corners of the streets and vroomed down the black-top trails. All wiped out within a matter of seconds by clusters of nuclear bombs.

A breeze picked up and clouds of dust and rock flew towards Max, entering his eyes, and temporarily stunning him. _Why didn't my helmet stop the stupid sand from getting in my eyes! _Max remembered he took off his helmet because of the heat; Max wished he hadn't. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to get the debris out of his eyes when finally; his tears were able to flush most of them out, leaving only a blurred vision instead of pain. Although things were blurry and unfocused, he was able to make out the shape and color of a Nuka-Cola machine next to the gas station's gate. He stumbled across the small town, bumping into ruined cars and tripping over skeletons until he made it to the soda machine.

Max surveyed the machine and deemed it dysfunctional, but with the possibility of still having some Nuke-Cola bottles, he broke the lock to the machine door and sure enough, there were two bottles of Nuka-Cola inside the broken vendor. He took one out, popped it open with his bare hands, and chugged the glass bottle's contents within a matter of seconds. The soda tasted flat, warm and had a metallic aftertaste. He burped a satisfied burp, before his stomach roared and ached. Max fell to his hands and feet, and he regurgitated the soda back out of his mouth like a demon from a pre-war ghost movie he saw in the Vault.

Max threw up once more before his stomach was finally emptied of all contents. He leaned his body against the Nuka-Cola machine and threw the empty bottle behind him. He heard some shuffling coming from one of the buildings in front of him, but considering he just threw up half his insides, he chose to recover before an investigation. _God, if there were any people left out here, they would die of this shit before anything. _

As he looked towards the houses in front of him, he saw a brown mass moving towards him. He thought he was hallucinating from the heat, his blurry vision and the bad soda because he thought he saw a giant ant the size of a car! He laughed, calling himself crazy until the ant picked a destroyed car with its jaws and threw it at Max. He quickly realized it was all real and barely jumped out of the way fast enough before the car crashed into the soda machine, crushing it against the fence. Quickly, he took out his pistol and shot a couple rounds into the ant's head before it fell. Whether it was dead or not, Max didn't want to stick around to find out and ran the opposite way the ant was coming from. He quickly stopped at a sign that looked like an out-rolled barrel with painted letters saying "Megaton" with an arrow pointing ahead.

Max followed the direction the sign pointed to, hoping to find some crude shelter, yet stopped in front of a fortress with two giant plane wings covered an entrance, above that was a plane engine and all around that, was a giant metal wall. A man sitting on the ground in front of the fortress, dressed in nothing but rags stood up and ran towards Max.

"I've been drinking this irradiated shit for weeks now…, I'm dying of it. Do you have any clean water you can spare?

"I'm sorry. If I had any, I'd give it to you."

"You're a liar! You have pure water and don't want give me any!" The man raised a fist at Max but the crack of a rifle echoed through the air and the two looked up at a sniper's nest sitting atop the fortress's entrance. Surely enough, a man wearing goggles, a bandana and holding a sniper rifle was standing watch above what seemed a 50-foot elevation. The man in rags ran off and hid behind some boulders, sobbing in fear that he was almost shot at.

Next thing he knew, a bipedal robot clumsily came up to Max saying, "Welcome to Megaton! The bomb is perfectly safe!" _A_ _Bomb? _Megaton already seemed like one of those wasteland myths he'd hear about at school. _I think the surface still has some bombs,_ one kid would say. _I heard from Freddie that there are still bombs near the Vault,_ one would yell out._ What? That's impossible! All the bombs went ka-boom a zillion years ago, _another said_. _The "zillion years ago" may have been false but sure enough, there was still a bomb not half a mile from Vault 101. A nuclear bomb wasn't half a mile away from his love…

Max approached the giant metal doors to Megaton and asked the man, "Uh… can I enter your fortress seeking shelter, food and other aid?"

The sniper looked down from his perch and said, "It's not _my_ shelter, I just keep watch. You can go on in but I'll have to open the door for you." The sniper turned, pulled a lever backwards, and covered his ears as the plane turbine atop the gate started to spin. Max saw the turbine gain in speed and slowly but surely, the giant metal doors denying access to Megaton moved back like curtains in a theater. behind the crude barriers was a small space before meeting another set of large double doors. These, however, were able to be easily pushed open for entrance and pushed back closed as Max first saw them.

Max looked around and was both astonished and horrified. A town was built in and around a crater with an atomic bomb in the very center of the whole town. The buildings, walkways, and foundations of everything within the town, including the walls protecting it, seemed crude, scavenged and was most likely pieces of airplanes, considering one building had the entire tail of one as its top floor. As amazing as it was seeing that there was pockets of humanity capable of living in such a desolate world, Max was disgusted that these people lived in rickety old shacks of rusted metal and had a bomb as their town statue. At least the giant metal walls gave protection from the dust clouds outside the town.

A man came up to Max, eyeing his clothing and the weapons clearly visible on his person, and said, "I'll be damned, you're from that vault, Vault 101." The man chuckled and continued, "I haven't seen one of those jumpsuits in a long time. My name is Lucas Simms and welcome to the town of Megaton. I'm the sheriff of this place, mayor when the need arises, and since you're new, I guess I can be a concierge for now."

Max shook the man's hat, seeing a sheriff badge on his duster and a sheriff's hat on his head made Max a bit too nervous to be rude. "Thank you, sheriff. Uh… this is a pretty nice place you got. By any chance, have you seen my dad? He's a middle-aged person, graying hair, a rough shaven beard and wearing a vault suit with a white doctor's shirt over it."

Lucas thought it over and said, "Nope. I can't say I have. Maybe you can ask… Moriarty," Simms said the name in disgust, "He's up in his saloon but be careful, he's a bad, bad man."

"Thanks sheriff. What did you mean that you haven't seen a jumpsuit like mine in a while? My dad was the only one that came out there before me wearing one of these."

"No. A while back, I mean a couple years back, I seen a couple people come out that vault and visit us. They seemed nice and we filled them in on the wasteland life and how things changed since civilization was still the norm. They left a bit after though."

"No... Dad and I were the first ones out of there..." _Were there other people that came out of the vault before us? Of course not! We live in the vault and we die in the vault! No one leaves and no one enters! _

"Well maybe it was people from a different vault. I'd ask Moira up in Craterside Supply about it. She runs the towns general goods store. You can go up this pathway above Doc Church's and make a right. First door you see."

Okay, I will. Say, does that bomb still work…?"

Simms looked back at the old WMD and said, "Sadly, it still does. In fact, there's a bunch of people that worship it. A bunch of nuts, but they're harmless. For the moment, no one even knows it's still a threat! I'm hoping no one will find out until either we're all dead or it's disarmed. Hopefully the latter."

"If you want, I could look into disarming it. At the Vault, I was taught how to do every job so I can see if the workers were doing theirs right, from leaky faucets to exploding radiators, I knew how to fix them."

Simms took off his hat and scratched his head in thought. "Well…, I don't want that thing ticking near my town so I guess I'll let you turn the nasty nuke off… just don't blow us up. When you're done, come see me and I'll give you 100 caps and a little extra surprise."

"…Caps? Bottle caps?"

"Oh that's right! You're new to the wasteland world. Well, caps out here are our money. You find caps nearly everywhere. You can even get one free cap from drinking a Nuka-Cola." Simms laughed at his last statement. All Max did was cringe at the memory of the spoiled drink. "When you get some caps, head on up to Craterside Supply and talk to Moira Brown. She's somewhat loose in the head but she's nice. I think she'd be willing to do some bartering too." With that in mind, Max headed down the slope from the main entrance and towards the nuke in the center of the town. Around it was a small pool of water; his pip-boy said the pool contained irradiated water but only slightly. Max walked carefully into the small pool, over to the large bomb and opened a little door hiding wires.

A heap of wires and processors littered the inside of the bomb, so Max stuck his arm in and searched around for anything hot. He yanked a processor out and a small explosion occurred, seemingly knocking Max unconscious as his Geiger counter went from 2 rads per second to 50 rads per second.

* * *

When Max woke up, he was facing a metal ceiling with an IV drip in his arm and three people around him. There was Lucas Simms, a redheaded woman, and an older man who Max presumed was the doctor.

"See Simms," the doctor said, "the kid is fine! Nothing a little Rad-Away can't fix."

"Doc, don't forget that that was my _special_ batch of Rad-Away that saved the boy's life. I would absolutely _love_ a testimony from a doctor witnessing the effects of homemade Rad-Away first hand." The redheaded woman, whose name was apparently Moira Brown, kept talking, and asking questions to the doctor until the doctor asked her to calm down the townsfolk outside, which she happily agreed to do before finally leaving,.

Max sat up and saw Simms sitting on a chair next to Max's bed. "I disarmed the thing."

Lucas only laughed and said, "Well that you did, son. You almost got yourself killed doing it, but seeing you're not dead and none of us is dead, I guess you can still claim the reward. Just wait until you're all healed up in…, Church, how long did Moira say he'd be up and running again?"

Doctor Church went into the next room, apparently his office, and came reading a clipboard. "Well, according to what I've seen and what Moira says…, I'd say the mutation will heal him up pretty quickly…, he'll be up and running by six o'clock this afternoon, Sheriff."

"That's good news." Simms got up, nodded to the doctor and headed for the door while saying, "Remember, find me when you're all healed up." He opened the door and went outside.

"Good news?" Max couldn't believe what he heard. "I have a mutation! I'm going to grow another fucking limb or have more eyes or become some ticking time bomb!" Max remembered what he put on his G.O.A.T. test when asked what he'd do if he grew another arm. _A bullet to the head._ Max searched around for his pistol but it was nowhere in sight. He curled up into a ball and sobbed.

Doctor Church sighed frustrated. "No you won't. Just suck it up, you big baby. It's one of those-"he sighed again, "MOIRA!" Moira opened the door to the clinic and walked in casually. "Moira, tell him what the mutation is. He's already crying about it."

Moira shrieked in joy and sat on the chair Simms was sitting on. "Well, when I saw you on this bed glowing with radiation, I thought, 'this guy looks like a perfect subject for my homemade Rad-Away!' Therefore, I injected you with a few chems, with the doc's permission of course, and hovered a couple magnets over you and within a few hours, you woke up! Before you woke up though, I took out a bit of your blood and had it tested to make sure no more of that annoying radiation was in you and we found you now have a mutation! After dipping it in irradiated water, the doctor and I found out that it regenerates damaged cells as you get more radiation! Not only is this great for you because you get to live but it's also good that I now have a great solution for radiation poisoning for the book!"

Max looked at her as if she was crazy. Whether she was or wasn't didn't seem to matter but she was a quite the talker. She stuck out her hand and greeted Max. "Hi! My name is Moira Brown! You should come down sometime…, or come up…, or … just…," she chuckled, "just come to my shop whenever you need anything."

Max cautiously took her hand. "My name is Max. Max LeBay. I recently left the Vault to look for my dad. Have you seen him? He's a middle-aged guy, whiting hair, a rough shaven beard? Does it ring any bells?"

Moira thought long and hard and finally said, "Nope! Can't say I have. Hey! I got an idea! You come down to my shop and I can give you a few things to help you look for him. You know, as thanks for disarmed the bomb that threatened to blow us all to Oblivion...and as an apology for twisting your DNA like a towel."

"Okay, I will." Satisfied, Moira walked out of the clinic, saying bye to Doctor Church and waving goodbye to Max.

* * *

After a couple hours of sleep, a sleep where he and his dad were both wiped out by a nuclear explosion by the Overseer, Amata executed for helping Max escape and Jonas being beaten dead again, Max woke up in cold sweat and with a heartbeat so fast, it felt like he escaped the vault all over again... which wasn't too bad, considering how well it went under the circumstances he was under.

When the good doctor felt that Max was well enough, he gave Max his things and sent him off, saying he wouldn't bill him this one time since he disarmed the bomb. Max exited the doctor's clinic and started to walk the metal ramp that went over the clinic, towards Moira's store. The ramp would creek and ache under his weight, and he felt he would fall through the long piece of metal. Max would notice people whispering into their companion's ears and point at him in astonishment. Was it better to feel honored or ashamed of those talking of him? He opened the door to Craterside Supply and his nostrils become suddenly invaded by a putrid odor.

Moira waved at him front behind the counter saying, "Hey! Try not to mind the smell; it'll go away soon. Crack open the door, yeah?" Max left the door open and took a couple deep breaths of the wasteland's semi-fresh air. "That's the last time I use a Mole Rat bladder sack for an experiment. Whew!" She grabbed a lid from a square, metal box and fanned the room of the smell. Max grabbed a nearby lid and helped clear the air of odor.

After a couple minutes, the air inside the shop seemed breathable to the wasteland's standards. To Max, it still smelled wretched. "You said you had something for me?" Max felt somewhat awkward just popping it up like that but he wasn't very keen on taking his time that moment.

"Oh! Wait right here! I'll only take a minute!" Max saw the woman run to the next room, heard her climb up some stairs and saw her upstairs from the scaffolding. He heard her open boxes, moves things around and finally came running downstairs with a blue suit in her arms. "Here, I had this thing made a while ago for another Vault escapee but since she never came back to get it, I'm giving it to the next Vault escapee, you."

"What? The Vault's been opened before? That's impossible…" Since both his dad and he were able to leave the Vault, Max considered that anything was possible for a Vault dweller.

"Well, it happened before and it happened again. All that matters is that you meet new people!" She handed Max the suit and he took it, seeing that it was a modified Vault 101 suit. Moira twirled away from him and searched through the shelves and lockers on the walls of her store for something else. Max carried the suit, placed it on the counter, and admired it. It had a shoulder guard on the left side with a bandolier, holding ammunition pouches, running from it to the right side of the waist. At the waist was a belt that had even more ammo pouches and a pistol holster on the right leg. Max felt the inside of the suit and he thought he felt some kind of Kevlar. It was thin but at the same time thick. He picked up the suit by its shoulders and he estimated it weighed no more than 10 or 15 pounds, probably lighter than his security armor, with probably added protection.

Moira came back with a thin belt of leather with a small pouch in the middle of it. "Here you go your first rifle holster. You know, so when you get your very first rifle, you can have a way to carry it around hands-free." As Max took hold of the belt, a man wearing leather armor came through the shop's door carrying a toolbox in his right hand.

"Moira, Walter said thanks for the tools. He said they helped a bit," the man said.

"Thanks, Diego. Max this is Diego, he watches over the shop when I'm gone and essentially watches over the shop even when I'm here." Max and Diego exchanged glares as Diego walked to a wall looking in the counter's direction and leaned against it, his slung assault rifle clearly visible over his shoulder. An awkward silence befell the room.

"Well I'm going to take off Moira. I got to find Lucas Simms."

"Alright, bye! Try not to die!" Max shuddered, hoping the same.

* * *

He found Lucas Simms sitting at a counter for a bar near the now disarmed bomb. On the way, people looked at Max and smiled, hearing the recent news of his grace towards the town. Max sat down on the stool next to Simms. "Sheriff," he greeted.

"Well, well. If it isn't our very own nuclear scientist, I was wondering when you'd come find me. Come on follow me." The two got up and walked towards the entrance, taking a right and climbing up makeshift stairs and stopping in front of a house on the edge of the crater, standing on a platform supported by metal beams. "For a while now, I've been looking for someone to give this home to. It's one of the nicest homes in town and I wasn't going to give it to some random stranger who didn't deserve it. You, son, have done more than enough to deserve this place. Consider yourself an official resident of Megaton, where the nuke is now honestly safe." He dug into the pocket of his duster, pulled out a silver, shiny key, and gave it to Max, along with a small pouch containing bottle caps. "Here's those caps I promised, too."

"Come on, one more place you need to go." Simms led Max to the opposite side of town, which on the way; he saw a couple pipes with big leaks coming out of them. They stopped at a building, reminiscent of an old military bunker. "Okay, let me go on first. I gotta calm down that Mister Gutsy before you can go in and get killed." Simms laughed and went inside. Half a minute later, he opened the door wide open for Max to enter. Inside, there were two long counters on both sides of the building holding a vast array of weapons, from pistols, to rifles, to even mini-guns. The other side had weapons Max never seen before and there were two cabinets in the far back, in the middle, a floating robot.

The robot looked like Andy, the Mister Handy robot, back in Vault 101, yet this one was painted an olive-drab instead of silver. "That's Deputy Steel. He protects this armory from anyone stupid enough to have a peek inside. Which reminds me, if you ever need anything that's inside here, come tell me; unless, of course, you like being shot at with flames and plasma? Anyways, choose your pick of a rifle, a pistol, get as much ammo as you can carry and go home for some rest. I'm going to be patrolling town all night and I doubt you'd want to join after what happened today." Max walked around the armory, chose a rusty old hunting rifle, a scoped .44 magnum revolver, and walked to the cabinets for ammo, before leaving for home.

When Max entered the new home he was given, he saw it was surprisingly spacious. It had two floors. There were two lockers on the first floor, a random pedestal in between them, a bookshelf, a kitchen, and some electronics near the door. He went upstairs, opened the only door available, and nearly fell back in surprise. Inside that room, was a floating Mister Handy robot! _Oh my God! My own Mister Handy! _The robot saw him and introduced itself.

"Hello, sir," it said in a British voice, much like Andy's, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wadsworth, your new, personal robot butler. If there's anything you need, feel free to ask anytime."

"Why thank you, Wadsworth. Is there anyplace I can put my stuff?"

"You can be able to put it on the desk in your bedroom, Sir. I tidied it up for your expected arrival." Max said a quick thank you, and watched as his robot hovered downstairs. Max went into his room, threw his stuff on the desk, took off his shoes, and laid down on the spring mattress bed he had.

_What a day._

* * *

**_Sorry I took so long posting this up guys. I've had a rough couple weeks. Anyways, I know this chapter seemed pretty dry but trust me, I'll pick up the pace soon enough. If there are suggestions, advice, mistakes in grammar, spelling etc, leave it in the comments (: Stay tuned for the next chapter._**

**_26/3/13: LOL I barely realized I called the doctor Mitchell instead of Church! Mitchell is the one from New Vegas and Church is the one in Fallout 3 LOL. Anyways, fixed it and changed a bit of wording, grammar, structure, etc. Enjoy(:_**


	5. The Problem with Burke

Max entered Moriarty's saloon, hoping to find some answers to where his dad went off. The day before, Lucas Simms, Megaton's sheriff, told him he could ask Moriarty for help. So there he went and there he was, scanning the room of Moriarty's, smelling the odor of booze and cigarettes, seeing sobers and the buzzed and feeling heaviness in the air. Max approached the bar, sat down on a stool, and gazed at the bartender with peeling skin, random clumps of hair on his head, who spoke with a raspy voice that sounded like he had a bad case of congestion bang on a radio to get rid of its white noise. The man almost reminded Max of a walking corpse from a horror movie_. What was it called? Dusk of The Dead,_ he thought. _Great movie._

'Yeah? Are you gonna' order somethin' or just stare at me? What, you never seen a ghoul before, smooth skin?" What Max thought was obviously present in that man was that he's seen and experienced many things in his lifetime, and was tired of it.

"Uh…sure. Do you have Vodka?"

The man pulled out a bottle of vodka and leaned on the counter. "Fan of the Russian drink? That'll be twenty caps by the way."

Max pulled out the pouch of caps the sheriff gave him for disarming the nuclear bomb in center of town, counting caps, he said, "Nope, but them Russians were a whole lot better than the Chinese." He pulled out twenty caps and laid them on the counter.

The ghoul laughed a raspy laugh and said, "I like you, kid. You're one of the only people in this town who didn't berate me when meeting me, and you know the Chinese are shitters. I mean look at me! This," he motioned to his body, "is their entire fault. Damn Commies! Tell you what," the ghoul hunched over and started to whisper, "I'll give you a ten percent discount on everything we're selling. Just don't tell Moriarty or he'll have my head hanging on the neon sign above this place."

Max gave a small smile and extended his hand to the ghoul. "LeBay. I'm looking for Moriarty."

The ghoul took Max's hand and shook it. "My name is Gob. Sorry, kid, but Moriarty isn't here right now. He went off on errands. Should be back tomorrow at the latest, though."

Max sighed, "Alright. Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Gob. I'll be back soon and we can talk more about Communism." Max left 18 caps on the bar counter, after taking back two from a discount and knowingly left the Vodka bottle he ordered behind as well.

He turned to the right and saw a man beckoning to talk to him, and Max went over to him. He cautiously walked over to the man in the grey suit, passing a blonde girl sitting near the door drinking a beer.

"Have a sit, boy. We have some business to take care of." The man's eyes hidden behind sunglasses, no expression in his voice or in his face gave Max a hint of what was to come.

Max sat down on a chair next to the stranger. "About?"

"I see that the little deed you did has effectively hindered the plans my employer had destined for this town and destroyed months of planning I had here. And for this obstruction, you will pay severely." Max became worried, not knowing if it was good or bad, or even if he would live another minute. The man stood up and continued, "See, this town is a like a stain on my employer's boot. It's an ugly blemish and a disgrace to the very wasteland where it lies. Everything in it and everything associated with it must perish and you, my dear boy, have just devastated the only thing that was able to bring this town to a quick and immediate demise!" The man fanned himself with his fedora and loosened the tie around his neck.

"So you and your boss wanted this small town gone? To vanish off the planes of the Earth? What have these people down to either of you, huh? Answer me that."

"It doesn't matter what they've done but that they vanish with no possibility of returning to their meaningless lives! They are ants within our society and just as any man would do to measly ants, I was brought here to wipe them out. You, however, decided to ruin my plans before even knowing what you brought yourself into, before you even knew what in the damn hell this town was, even when no one in this goddamned town knew who the hell you were before you just marched in here and disarmed that _fucking_ bomb!" The man's voice became intense, attracting the attention of those in the bar. He took off his hat and ran his hands over his head, before putting his fedora back on.

"Well, whoever you are, I think it's best if you leave now before you lose what's left of your dignity." Max made a gesture towards the door.

"The name's Burke. You may want to remember it for future references," he said as he walked towards the door, pushing it open. "Oh, one more thing," he pulled out a pistol and shot Max several times in the torso, just barely missing the lungs and heart, and Max collapsed onto the floor. Burke then grabbed the blonde girl sitting near the door, and used her as a human shield. Everyone in the bar stood straight up and was all ready to act until Burke pointed his pistol at the girl. "If anyone even thinks of pointing a gun at me," he yelled, "I drop this bitch where she stands and anyone else unlucky enough to be within my eyesight!" The girl showed the people in Moriarty's saloon that she didn't want to die by the fear on her face, so the people backed down. Burke walked backwards out of the saloon, towards the front of the town, pointing his gun at any possible heroes; even Lucas Simms himself didn't raise his rifle, only stared in hate and anguish. Burke made it to the front gate and continued walking backwards, into the wasteland with a hostage who may or may not remain alive for another hour.

* * *

A short while after Burke had left, Max stood next to Lucas Simms, clutching his chest where four bullets penetrated.

"Why didn't anyone stop him?"

Simms jumped, not aware of LeBay's presence. "What in the hell…? Son, I heard you were shot in the chest! How the hell are you standing, let alone _living?"_

Max looked at the shocked sheriff and showed Simms the wounds, which had all sealed shut by a fresh new layer of pink skin. LeBay held out his hand to show the fragments of four, crushed bullets.

Simms raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, "Mm-mmm-mmm. Looks like that homemade Rad-Away _did _change up your insides." Simms tapped Max's chest, to which LeBay didn't even wince. "You healed up pretty well. That's good. You feel like you can walk right? Hold a gun AND shoot it straight?"

Max's eyes gleamed with anticipation and he let a sly smile. "We're going after them?"

"Hell yes we are! We're gonna show Burke some wasteland justice!" Simms stared at the bloodied chest of his new partner in justice. "Clean yourself up first. I don't want some damn Yao Guai smelling that." Max looked at Simms confused, not knowing what in God's name a Yao Guai is. "Oh, I keep forgetting you're new to this wasteland life. I'll tell you what they are when we're on the road. Now get clean and meet me back here in five minutes!" With that, Max hurried to his house to get cleaned and came back wearing his Armored Vault 101 Jumpsuit, his hunting rifle slung over his shoulder, .44 magnum in its holster and a fierce look of eagerness. Simms noticed the scope of the revolver wasn't fastened to the top it anymore, yet on the top of the rifle. _Someone's a gun nut, _he thought.

"Ready," Max said. Simms smiled a wicked smile and the townsfolk looked on as the two walked out of the front gate, into the wastes and after Burke.

* * *

When Burke and his blonde captive exited Megaton, they immediately headed southwest. The whole trip, Burke walked half a step behind his hostage with a gun to her back. If she tried to escape, he told her, he'd severe her spin with a bullet and leave her for the radiated creatures the Capital Wasteland had to offer. No attempt of escape was ever made by the young woman. The two walked for about five minutes when they heard growling coming from their right. All Burke saw was a large rock formation taller than he was. "Keep going," he said, jabbing her back with the barrel of his pistol. So, they continued walking until a vicious dog launched itself from the top of the rock formation and landed on top of Burke, the latter dropping his weapon.

As the girl saw Burke fall, she made a break for it and ran. Unfortunately, four other dogs appeared, apparently followers of the one on Burke. Two dashed towards the fallen man while the other two went for the girl. She ran and fell as one of the dogs took hold of her shin with its jaws and she screamed in pain and fear as the other tried ravaging her body. She kicked and swung her arms at both dogs until they backed off long enough for her to pull herself on both feet and began making a limped run to a formation of rocks. She struggled to climb on to the top but when she did, she felt safe. The two dogs circled the rock and tried to reach the girl, unsuccessfully since they couldn't get a grip on the relatively smooth surface of the rock. Nonetheless, they kept trying and when one had some sort of grip, the girl kicked it in the head, effectively killing it.

The other starved dog, sensing its partner fall into the indefinite sleep that is death, gave up on the girl and started feasting upon the carcass of the recently killed canine. Even though the dog was preoccupied being a cannibal, the blonde woman wasn't about to risk the chance of having the starved mutt set its sights on her again, so she stayed on the rock and held her knees to her chest in fear.

* * *

As the other two dogs swarmed Burke, he punched the one on him and stood up, took out a switchblade and took a fighting stance. The three dogs circled Burke, taking on the characteristics of their wolf ancestors, and begun their attack. One dog lunged at Burke's neck, but he dodged its attempt and sliced its side with his blade. The creature fell, alive but severely wounded. The other dogs smelled fresh blood, saw a more vulnerable target and begun an attack on their new target: the fallen hound.

Burke looked on as he saw the two mongrels rip apart the mutt, their heads digging into the deepest parts of its body, trying to get into every bit of meat available to them. Burke collected himself, patting his suit of any dust, and found his 10mm pistol. He made sure it was loaded, walked to the two feasting dogs and ended their lives with a bullet for each. "Fucking pooches," he said, wiping the blade of his switchblade on what little fur the dogs had. He patted his fedora hat of any dust and set it on his head, picked up his sunglasses and put them on too, and then continued his journey, leaving the girl to her fate. After all, they were far from the town of Megaton.

Burke assessed which way was southwest and walked in its direction, but during the start of his walk, he heard a small pop from behind him and felt a sharp pain on the right side of his chest. He opened that side of his blazer and saw a fissure of blood staining his shirt, to which he fell to his knees and collapsed onto his back, blood gurgling in his throat and flowing out his mouth. He saw a familiar shape block the glare of the sun in his eyes, and focused his vision to see that it was none other than the Vault dweller he shot in Moriarty's earlier that day. Max knelt down beside Burke, revolver in hand. "How did you…?" Burke couldn't talk much at all, what with having blood in his mouth and a bullet through his right lung and all.

"Funny thing, Burke; It seems that disarming that bomb gave me a kind of perk, if you will. See, when you shot me, those bullets were then pushed out of my body, out the wounds they entered, and guess what? Those wounds closed! I know! Crazy, right? Well, the good sheriff and I tracked you down to here and we found the blonde sitting on a rock, watching a dog eating another, so we helped her out. Simms is taking her back to Megaton where she belongs." Max laughed a bit malevolently and stood up. "Since you're a bit of an evil guy and all, I'm going to cut you some slack. You tell me who your 'employer' is and where I can find him or her, and I'll make sure the creatures of this wasteland don't munch on you alive. Got it?"

"Foolish, naïve boy. Either way, I'm dying and you won't find out who I work for. This little dance you're trying to do, your little dust bow dance, will be a waste of your efforts and one that you wished you've never done." Burke tried spitting blood at Max, but it only hit his boots. "Just kill me and get it over with because I'm not telling you a fucking-," and with that, Max quickly aimed and shot a .44 caliber bullet into the skull of Mister Burke, leaving a nice sized hole where his nose should've been.

"Dumb fool. I could've helped you..." Max looted the corpse of Burke of anything interesting. Switchblade? It could sell for a few caps or even make a nice sneaky tool. Ooh, a 10mm pistol... selling. Ammo, a box of Salisbury Steaks, a Stimpak, Rad-X, and... a single, rusted key? Where could it be used?

Near the hole where a keychain could have entered, was a single 'M' scratched into it on both sides. Megaton? Max's face lit up. If Burke was able to stay in Megaton, in that bar, for months, he should have a house, right? Afterall, Burke wouldn't sleep on that chair like some drunkard. No, Burke seemed a more... sophisticated man for that. A house in Megaton for a man wanting to blow it up. With that, Max made haste to Megaton.

* * *

"Took you long enough," said Simms. "I was starting to think something went wrong."

"Nothing went wrong. Did the girl make it back okay?"

"She made it back with only a bit of cuts and a sprained ankle. Church is watching over her as we speak," Simms said a bit proudly. It wasn't everyday he saved the life of a Megaton resident.

"I'll make sure to see her later on. Burke has a house here, right?" Max was focused on one thing only.

"Sure does. He paid ten-thousand caps for the thing. It's right in front of the bomb too."

"Hmm... he can always be watching the bomb when he's home... smart, Burke... Very clever..."

"You know," started Simms, "he _is _an evil bastard! Setting up shop next to a bomb he wants to detonate! That, my friend, explains a lot."

"Yes, yes it does." Max marched up to Burke's house, unlocked it and rummaged through it, throwing furniture, clothing, anything that didn't help him with information on Burke's employer. Eventually, he found a holotape under his bed. Max slipped it in his Pip-Boy and heard an audio version of a contract from a Mister Allistair Tenpenny. He turned to the sheriff as if he discovered the first wonder of the post-apocalyptic world, "Simms, do you know or heard anyone by the name Allistair Tenpenny? Any info?"

Simms stroked his beard in thought. "Southwest of here is Tenpenny tower. Maybe he's there. I've never been there myself, but I know it's a couple hours walking. Why?"

"He must be the employer…"

"The employer?" Yet, Max left to his home before answering.

A half-hour later, Simms noticed Max entering Doc Church's clinic with a bag.

* * *

"You don't look hurt or dead enough to be in here anymore, so what do you want?" The good doctor seemed stressed, yet when Max first met him, he seemed the exact same way.

"I've come to the visit the girl who came in a bit ago. Lucas Simms brought her in."

The doctor pointed to a bed with a blonde woman laying on it, bandages wrapped her right shin. Max went over and pulled up a chair, when she awoke.

"I see the bravest girl in Megaton is awake now," he said in the most cheerfully way he could.

"I am. Thanks for saving me. I probably would've died out there if it wasn't for you and Sheriff Simms."

"Don't mention it. Here," Max pulled out five bottles of purified water from his bag, more from Wadsworth, and set them on her bed next to her.

"Oh my God!" She examined the bottles as if they were gold pieces from the pirates' era. 'Where'd you get so much clean water?"

"Um… I found some," he lied. "Just take them as a 'Hope you get well soon' present." Max stood up made his way to the front door, when the girl called him.

"My names Lucy West. Come check up on me sometime, yeah?"

Max nodded and was out the door, made his way to his house and was preparing for his Dust Bowl Dance he would do tomorrow at this Tenpenny Tower.

* * *

**_Hey Guys. I really hope you've enjoyed this chapter and what i did with the dogs and Burke. To me, it made sense that the vicious, starved dogs would feast on any of their own once they've fallen. With Burke, I read many FanFics making him the main antagonist with many great powers and what not but I wanted to try something different._**

**_I'm planning on having Max go to Tenpenny Tower and do the quest to try to get them ghouls into living there and am really torn and how to do it. Any suggestions?_**

**_Also, I'm sorry if the beginning dialogue with Gob offended any of you, but I thought that Ghouls would blame their condition on the Chinese since they were a big reason for the nukes falling. _**

**_Anyways, any comments, suggestions, grammar, spelling issues, etc let me know! :)_**


	6. Dust Bowl Dance

The young man stood on the edge of his porch, looking over the city of Megaton. People walked to and fro, talking to others, laughing with each other and some even worshipping a bomb he deactivated that same week. God, he just saved a bunch of people in a day and saved the life of another the next day, while at the same time, ridding the town of an evil menace with a suit. Today, he would make sure no other man or woman would come into his home and try to destroy it. Today, he would go down to Tenpenny Tower, the building that once housed Burke and still houses his employer, to get rid of yet another evil person.

Why, though, did the days feel short? Was it because he wasn't used to his father being gone? The father of Max LeBay was gone. Three days out in the Wasteland of D.C. and he was already doing things he probably never thought he would in the Vault. The Vault… oh how he missed Amata… he could barely remember how her lips felt against his, how her skin felt against his, and how they both fit together perfectly on that one fateful night… I've been kicked off my land at the age of nineteen… and I have no idea where else my heart could've been other than there. He shook his head. He would be back in his original home soon. He placed all his trust at the foot of this hill, the foot of Megaton, and now he was sure his heart could never be still.

He went up to Craterside Supply and Moira went ecstatic when she saw him.

"Hey! So I was thinking that since you survived my little homemade concoction, and even got a nice perk along with it, so I hear, maybe you can help me continue researching?" Moira clasped her hands together, almost in a begging manner.

"Continue researching? I never started." More DNA twists? No.

"Oh sure you have! When your body became a walking nuclear reactor, I swear I could've made batteries filled with your pee that would've lasted twenty years; I studied the effects it took on your body. And might I say, it turned out better than neither you nor I could've hoped for."

"Yeah, thanks for making my DNA into a pretzel," Max replied.

"Oh, shut it. That pretzel DNA saved your life from three bullets!" Moira pulled out a small baggie containing three bullet fragments from her jumpsuit, and shook them in front of Max. "You would be dead right now and buried six feet under the ground or buried one foot down the stomach of a couple of Mole Rats."

"I guess you're right… What's this research even for? Writing a book or something?"

Moira smiled. "That's right! I'm writing a Wasteland Survival Guide!" Moira motioned the words above her as if she was the editor for a newspaper. "I want to be able to give the people of the wastes a fighting chance to survive. After all, not many of them can be in such a town as Megaton! However, what I need the most is field research. A person to try out experiments, who gathers necessary items, and do a bit of exploring to get a nice, accurate and informative guide to survival. That's where you come in. Oh, and I'll even add your name to the book as a co-author! How does that sound, eh?"

"I don't know Moira… see, I'm supposed to go on an... errand down south." Max thought a bit to himself before saying, "Tell you what, give me some ammo for my rifle and revolver, add a couple of Stimpaks and you got yourself a deal." Max held out his hand for agreement, to which Moira happily shook too and Max was on his way.

* * *

Max made a quick stop to Springvalle, not a visit _into _the town but looked at it from a bit away. There was no one in the town and no one in the fields. He did see that car that giant ant threw still sandwiching a Nuka-Cola machine in between a fence. With that destroyed, that dusty, barren land had given all it could yield, albeit not much people could've gained from it before. He collect his courage and collected his force and prayed he would never feel the same kind of remorse he felt after killing Officer Kendall. If he stopped him, after all, Max wouldn't have been able to escape the vault.

He turned around and headed southwest, the direction Burke was taking. Max checked his Pip-Boy 3000 and it showed that it was 9:34 in the morning. Enough time to get there and back if he was swift enough. Max made the trek, albeit a boring trek. There wasn't much to do or see. The most unusual thing he noticed was that Burke's corpse wasn't where he left it. In its place was a bloody puddle, a torn cloth and remnants of glasses. Maybe a creature ate him, who knows.

He continued, killing the occasional doggie, to which he started calling Scooby-Doos, and the lonely Mole Rat to which he started calling squirrels for their large buckteeth. Not much in terms of new, exciting creatures, but maybe that was for the best. After all, he didn't want to tango with a Yao Guai. Simms told him during the search for Burke that they were mutated black bears. Almost all their hair has fallen off, their breathing has become hazy, and their skin rotted, almost like ghouls.

Max thought Yao Guai was hard to say so he just went with calling them Yogi Bears. Damn bears, eating human corpses. Didn't anyone teach people to not feed the Yogis? Oh, and they wonder why there are raiders and shit killing people. If society can't even follow the "No feeding radiated and mutated animals" law, then society wouldn't have broken down the way it did and there wouldn't have been any nuclear war. Max just laughed at himself.

Eventually, Max made it under a highway overpass, and rested under its cool shade for a bit. He took out a Salisbury steak and drank it down with a bottle of water. He checked his Pip-Boy, it was 11:19 a.m., and he was probably halfway there. He stood up and climbed the crumbling overpass to higher ground, clinging to the support beam to not fall. With a bit of effort, he made it to the top and marveled at the beauty of what he saw.

Dust. Dust _everywhere_; dust as far as the eye can see with random burnt trees here and there, the occasional destroyed building, and the common pale rocks. It almost made Max depressed at the blandness of the wasteland's color pâté, where the only other color to paint the boring see of brown and grey was the crimson red of blood.

He shielded his eyes from the sun and sure enough, peeking out of the horizon was a tall building, relatively untouched by the wasteland's nature of deterioration. He descended from the highway and made the final trek to the building of Tenpenny Tower.

The path there was met with such an… eerie silence. The only sound was the sound of his feet crunching atop the dirt and sand. There was no sign of a Scooby, a squirrel, nothing. Where was everything? Suddenly, he froze, stricken with fear of the reality he probably missed. Back in the Vault, they taught the kids things The Wilderness Explorers, a Boy Scout camp from before The Great War, knew how to do and detect. One of them was that when in your environment and nothing moved nor made a sound, there were no presence of animals nor any creature, then you were most likely in a room with firm walls, or there was a predator nearby.

Max looked around, and saw nothing. He quickened his pace towards the tower when he heard a low, hazy growl from behind him. He slowly turned around and he felt his blood run cold. In front of him was a creature with rotting flesh, little hair and almost creamy eyes, but it also had paws bigger than Max's face, a jaw that can probably crush his skull like a tongue can crush a cherry. The creature raised its head and sniffed the air, looking towards Max. Slowly, Max took out his revolver and slowly aimed it at the Yogi, his hands were shaking and fired one shot. The Yogi Bear fell over dead, a whole in its eye and an even bigger one on the other side of its head.

Max examined the Yogi. A quarter inch too for to the left and it would have stopped at the skull, pissed the thing off and Max would've never been seen again. Lucky, Lady Luck was on his side as the bullet when through the eye, killing the thing. "Looks like Yogi won't be getting any picnic baskets today," he silently muttered.

* * *

By 12:30, Max finally reached Tenpenny Tower. A marvelous tower, almost untouched by time, except for the sheets of metal on the backside of the tower stood. Whoever set up shop put slabs of concrete around the perimeter of the tower, higher than six feet at least. Near the front of the perimeter, stood an iron gate with an intercom next to it and Max went up to it, held down a button and spoke into the microphone.

'Um… hello?"

"Yeah? What the hell do you want?" Max felt a bit offended, but kept his temper under control.

"I'm here to see Mr. Tenpenny. I was told to see him about a job Burke gave me," if Lady Luck was on Max's side, he sure needed her for this gamble.

There was silence over the intercom until the man said, "Okay, fine. I'll let you in." As soon as he said that, the iron gate opened up and Max entered.

A security guard wearing khaki colored armor stopped him saying, "Welcome to Tenpenny Tower. Don't do anything stupid or else I'll personally see to it that you get thrown off that balcony aaaalllll the waaaaaayyy up there," he said, pointing up towards the small looking balcony hundreds of feet above them. Max took note of an operational fountain between the gate and the entrance of the tower, and admired its tranquil, running waters. Max nodded to the guard and went inside the building, opening two golden colored doors to enter.

When Max entered Tenpenny Tower's lobby, he felt like he traveled through time. The people, the sights, the sounds, and that smell, oh that smell! Even the overall feel of the very air made him think he was in a better place. He saw people walking up and down stairs, across the lobby and out of doors wearing Pre-War clothing. Men in slacks, women in dresses, children in polo shirts roamed the lobby, ascended and descended its stairs and talked to each other as if the year was still 2077. The image was a bit cracked as security guards armed with assault rifles stood in each corner, eyeing Max suspiciously, eyeing his revolver and rifle even closer.

Max walked lazily toward the receptionist desk in the middle of the lobby, bobbing his head back and forth to the rhythm of the peaceful ambient music coming from speakers above him. There, sat a man wearing security armor, reading a Tales of Junktown Jerky Vendor book. _The people here can apparently read too._ Max asked how to get to Tenpenny and the guard raised his thumb and pointed it behind him, pointing to an elevator, and never took his eyes of the book.

The elevator was still in great condition, it ran smoothly, and even had the same music the lobby had. Max pressed the button with a big "P" on it and up the elevator went with, Max's stomach went down, and he felt a bit disoriented at the feeling of going up so fast. Quickly, the elevator stopped and its automatic steel doors opened with a ding, then closed once again. In this upper floor, there were more "classy" looking people. They had Pre-War clothing too but at the same time, were a bit snobbier. Perhaps they paid Tenpenny a bit more caps to be able to live in such luxury. Looking around, he was able to guess that the suite Tenpenny was in was the one with the guard standing next to the door, and sure enough, he was correct. The guard said, "The boss was outside on the balcony," to which Max thanked him for and headed into the suite.

Max passed a small garden and out some doors where he saw a lone, elderly man wearing black boots, white pants and a red blazer with a matching ascot around his neck sitting on a red arm chair facing the wasteland. Pure royalty!

"Oh, hello there young man! What might I do for you?" He spoke in a rather English accent.

"Mister Allistair Tenpenny, I assume?" Max couldn't leave anything to chance. What would've happened if Tenpenny's brother was before Max's eyes and not Allistair? Cousin? What if this man was his nephew?

"Yes, that is me. Did you need me? Oh! You wanted to live in the grand Tenpenny Tower, didn't you? Did you see this shining monument poking up out of the horizon and think, 'That place must be a safe haven worthy of my comfort and trust.'" Well, I'll tell you, son, it took quite a bit of money, work and… some arrangements," he looked a bit uncomfortable in saying the last part, but continued, " but in the end, my beloved tower and its glory became a beacon to those with the caps to invest in it!"

"I did see it over the horizon and yes, this place is amazing, to say the least. I didn't come for a room, though. I came to talk about Megaton."

"Ah, I assume Burke sent you? Where the bloody hell is that man? I haven't caught word of him in days!"

Max made a quick thought and replied with, "The sheriff of Megaton killed him when we were on our way here after I armed the bomb. With his dying breath, he told me to run here and tell you the stain was going to be wiped. After that, I ran here until the sheriff lost me."

Tenpenny leaned forward and made a long thought, staring at Max before standing up and stood in front of Max.

Tenpenny extended his hand with a smile, to which Max took hold. Suddenly, the old man swung his head forward and head-butted Max on the nose. Max fell back a bit but caught his balance on the rail of the balcony.

"You pathetic liar," Tenpenny started, "Burke wouldn't say such a thing! I saw the spectacle you pulled yesterday! I seen it through the scope of my rifle! I've heard both shots that hit Burke and I saw you end his life! And still you come knocking, still you come and try to infiltrate my lair in the hopes I wouldn't suspect a thing,. Then you come in here, acting as if you belong! You, my dear boy, gave yourself out like a stain on my boot." Tenpenny raised his fists and delivered a few throws at Max, hitting him in the gut. Max fell on his knees and clenched his stomach. He looked up at Tenpenny, who stepped back and swung his right foot forward, hitting Max upside his jaw, throwing his body back. "Guards!"

Two security guards quickly came in, lifted Max up by the arms, who was too dizzy and disoriented to resist. "Get this monkey out of my sight," snapped Tenpenny. Max moaned and stared at the old man. He turned back to look at Max and gripped him by the chin fiercely. "Do you have something to say, chap?"

"Yeah… I do," replied Max, a bit groggily. "When your time has come, God will punish you and make your death a horrible one. There will not be a trace of your body to bury nor a tear shed in your name. Just wait old man. Just you wait."

Tenpenny let out a big, long laugh and wiped his eyes in amusement. "My dear boy, after two hundred years of surviving in a desolate wasteland, two hundred years of living in fear, and the fact that two hundred years ago, a short but devastating war raged on leaving the planet destroyed, how can you say there is a God? My country was destroyed in a fight we weren't in! Yet, you come in here with the audacity to say that there is a God who gives two shits about the decisions we make! Well, in that case, I think you're a bigger fool now than you were just mere moments ago." Tenpenny punched Max again in the stomach, who fell to his knees.

After a quick moment, he stood himself up right, stared into the eyes of Alistair Tenpenny, blood dripping down his own nose and mouth, and began. "Well you are my accuser; now look in my face! Your oppression reeks of your greed and disgrace! So one man has and another has not. How can you love what it is you have got when you took it all from the weak hands of the poor? Liars and thieves, you know not what is in store. There will come a time I will look in your eyes and you will pray to the God that you've always denied. Then I'll go out back and I'll get my gun and I'll say, 'You haven't met me, I am the only son!'"

"I will love to see that day. Until then, you aren't to approach my tower anymore. Guards, take him out of here!"

The two guards tightened their grip on Max's arms and began to drag him until he elbowed the guard to his right, quickly took out his revolver and shot him in the face, then did the same to the guard on his left, before quickly pointing the gun at Allistair Tenpenny's wrinkled face. He kept the gun pointed at the old man as Max grabbed an assault rifle off the body of a dead guard and put it through the handles of the door leading inside the tower, making sure it wouldn't open.

"Well old man, looks like that day has arrived a bit too early for you." Max grabbed a helmet off the guards and put it on his head, fastening it by the chinstrap. Safety first, right.

Tenpenny's wrinkled face transformed from a triumphant smirk to an ugly scowl of rage at the sight of the revolver pointed at him. He charged at Max head first, and he got really close before Max shot one bullet at the charging Englishman.

Max was instantly tackled by all of Tenpenny's weight, and the two of them fell over the side of the balcony and down to the floor, hitting a small ledge on the side of the building, tumbling over another and finally landing on the hard, concrete floor with a couple of cracks and snaps. When he hit the floor on his back, he felt not only his spine break in two places with loud snaps, he heard the cracks of his ribs, a leg, both his arms and the crunch of his skull against the helmet he wore that most likely saved his life. Broken shards and pieces of the hunting rifle on his back penetrated his flesh and the intense pain of his twisted ankle made everything unbearable.

Max stayed conscious long enough to see Tenpenny's body on the top of the fountain, his body facing the sky and his spine most likely severed in several places. He stared at Tenpenny's lifeless corpse and muttered, "You haven't met me, I am the only son..."

He felt the hands of many people who witnessed the fall, grab Max and the deceased man's body, and drag them inside to the tower in a rush to save their lives. Max knew, though, that as the weight that toppled him over the balcony was dead weight. His one bullet hit its mark and there was no hope for the fallen elderly, even if he had somehow survive the fall.

As for Max, he wondered what would happen. Whether or not his little benefit would be able to heal that great of bodily damage was unknown to him, but he smiled, knowing that if he died, he died making sure his new home would be safe. Safe from probably its greatest threat the town of Megaton would ever know. He smiled to the thought that if he died, he would die a hero.

What of his father, though? How would he find his father if he died? In the short seconds before losing consciousness, Max prayed that he be able to live, so that he can continue on his original objective and find his beloved father and keep his promise to his love, Amata.

"Well, yes sir, yes sir, yes, it was me," he prayed. "I know what I've done, 'cause I know what I've seen. Well, I went out back and I got my gun I said, 'You haven't met me, I am the only son.' I pray to you, my lord, you let me continue on with life, for my mission on this Earth is not yet done. Amen." After that, Max lost consciousness and woke up on a bed within a clinic.

* * *

**_The conversation between Max & Tenpenny regarding God isn't there to offend anyone but I just used it because I had a talk with a friend almost the exact same way (except not ending in us falling off a hotel's balcony xD ) and I also thought that it would be an awesome thing to add since not much religion is in Fallout, except for the worship of a nuclear bomb God. _**

**_Also, I hope you guys caught the Mumford & Sons references throughout their story. After all, the chapter is a bit based off their song. Just for the record, any lyrics of theirs on this story I don't own and changed some, but the lyrics are still there in whole._**

**_Okay guys leave a review on what you think, I hope you enjoyed today's chapter and stay tuned for the next one coming soon because i have no idea how to set it up LOL._**


	7. Space Dreams

Midnight. Or was it midnight? There was no one in the room with the broken Max LeBay. He lay in bed, a rag doll with most of the bones in his body aching and the pain flowing throughout every small nook and cranny of his body. Flashes of what occurred zipped through his dreams at high speeds. The meeting, the quarrel, the guards, and the fall. Yet, somehow, he woke up. Broken, but alive. He laid in bed a broken man, dried blood on his chin, around his mouth and on his chest, a grisly realization of the damage inside his body. He wasn't bleeding anymore, though. It was dry, crusty dark blood.

He still couldn't move. Maybe the damage had been done, the effects irreversible, not even the great healing powers he had could change the wreck that was his body. Max lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, counting the cracks in the pre-war ceiling. _Would I be hospitalized forever? What if I die on this bed? _So many questions with no amount of answers.

He dozed in and out of consciousness at times, staying awake for 10 minutes, then falling back to sleep for another 5. The strangest feeling; the feeling of being awake and asleep at the same time. The state of being on the border of rest and reality was a funny thing to experience. Maybe there are no cracks on the ceiling and it's just something that slipped out of his dream side. Suppose that garden gnome didn't look like a creepy child killer. Who knows?

Three in the morning… or was it two? Four? It was still dark. Darkness was all that Max felt. Well, that and the freezing cold air that would hit his bare skin. He couldn't move to shield himself, he couldn't breathe without it hurting, and he couldn't even swallow the saliva built up in his mouth without that clogged feeling in his throat. It was terrible.

After he fell asleep for what seemed the thirtieth time, Max had a dream of space, traveling on some kind of space craft and floating on the outside of it in zero gravity. Oh, how he could almost _feel_ the weightlessness zero gravity gives a man. He saw the bright lights of the craft shining on him, penetrating the glass helmet of his space suit and all of it seemed so _real_.

A very vivid dream for those close to death? Probably. Maybe God wanted him to die peacefully and with good images of a vastly unexplored space, pun intended, which was inhabited by no man. If he could die with these images in his mind, he supposed God was thinking, he would die a good man.

_Wait...what about Dad?_ Max thought about how he would probably never see his father again, fail his mission of finding him and leave his dad out in the wastes alone with not a family alive. _No, I am NOT going to die without at least finding my father. _The dream showed James walking towards Max, exposed to the openness of space but walked as if he was on Earth. He reached out to Max, extended a hand to him. "Take my hand,son," he told Max. He did what his father asked of him but watched as his dad just _poofed_ into nothingness.

"Max!" He turned around and saw his lovely Amata, her beautiful smile and gorgeous face warmed Max's heart in reality and in his dream. He ran to her, desperate to hug the girl he missed very much. Arms wrapped around him as he wrapped his arms around his lover in a tight embrace, and he shifted himself to see his girl when he was surprised by his Amata covered in bruises across her face. "Look at what they did," she yelled, before poofing into nothingness before Max's eyes.

Max sat on the spacecraft, brought his knees to his chest and sobbed.

Max woke up from his dreams of space and was instantly blinded by a bright light. He couldn't feel the bed under him and actually saw himself rising… and rising… and rising to the ceiling. His dreams have become nightmares! He felt himself pass through the floors of Tenpenny Tower, almost like some kind of spirit. Was he dead? No, he still felt pain when breathing.

He risen through the floors and saw himself float through the sky and into the greatest void that was space. Rising and rising he went, into space and out of the Earth's atmosphere, yet still breathing fresh air. Max kept levitating until he reached the origins of what pulled him miles and miles above the Earth.

After he crossed the threshold of the beam's origin, he blacked out once again. Before he did, he thought he might've gone crazy, because what he saw baffled him. What Max saw, frightened, shocked, and intrigued him all at the same time. Because what Max saw, wasn't a man, wasn't a creature but probably a mix of the two. What Max LeBay saw at that moment, were three little green men with big bug eyes, big heads and clad in white spacesuits surrounding him.

* * *

**_Okay, sorry I haven't posted anything in a bit so... heres something to keep you guys interested while I write the next, longer and hopefully better chapter._**

**_As always, constructive criticism is always welcome. _**


	8. A New Friend Out West

Days passed. I, the great Three-Dog, bow wow wow, received word that there were strange light flashes in the sky. Green rays traveled short distances in the heavens. That people were seeing some fancy light show. It went on for half an hour until _boom!_ Something in the cosmos exploded. Whatever it was, it caused a great light to appear in the sky, almost like the flash of an atomic bomb. It filled every inch of the sky with light, and for the first time in in centuries, the people of Washington D.C. had seen stars. Well, the one we'd all see is the Sun, of course, but we all saw stars of different colors and sizes. We saw what looked like a cloud that was far far away. A red cloud that wasn't anywhere near us but seemed so close.

The Capital Wasteland had viewed the great mysteries and the great beauty of space. Mankind had visited space before, you know, but that was one place that man never was able to fully… _touch_. Its magnificence still pure and just, the way it was before, now and how it will be in the far future. My, my. The explosion was like a light bulb at night. It showed me, the Brotherhood soldiers outside my radio building, and the entire wasteland that beauty was always in front of us. We just have to look closely. And that, my friends, is what made that day so special to me.

Nevertheless, I didn't say I was going to talk about me nor about the beauty of the cosmic space. We're here to listen about what happened to Max LeBay on that weird abduction. Shortly after that explosion, people talked about seeing some giant comet heading towards the Earth. I didn't feel any second apocalypse but that's when Max came back. What we all saw was a battle between alien motherships! I know, crazy, right? Well that's exactly what happened. What we saw fly towards Earth was the enemy ship meeting the Earth real closely. And Max LeBay, somehow came back to us all.

He made back and forth trips between Megaton and some secret place that even today, remains a closely guarded secret. Nonetheless, he brought home a plethora of weapons, strange food, medicine, armor and his iconic katana. Yes, kiddos, that is how the Lone Wanderer as you all know him today got his revered blade.

When he came back home to Megaton, the first thing Max did was sleep. He slept for a couple hours, woke up, and went back. He made round trips several times until he was done. I don't know where he went nor for what reason, all I know is that Max had something planned for whatever he was bringing home.

After his great delivery, he stayed in his Megaton house for two days. No one saw him leave for two days. Then, on the third day, like the Christ he revered, he "resurrected" from his home. He walked out in some strange grayish armor. It was skintight with a mask that had an orange visor. Don't ask me as if I know, but imagine what it must have felt in between his legs! Ouch! Anyways, he had that armor on. He was also seen having some strange rifle on his back. It wasn't his hunting rifle, because remember, it shattered and stabbed itself into his back when he hit the ground from the tower.

No, this was some strange rifle and it had the sort of guard that he slips his hand in, pulls it down, pushes the lever back up back up and shoots, then repeats. If I had some history book that told me what that gun was, I'd tell you automatically. All I know of that gun is that it was used in a war. A war in which America the great fought over freedom of us black slave folk.

If any of you ever make it into the D.C. ruins, pay homage to old Lincoln at his memorial. You know, the statue has its head back on. Ol' Maxy fixed that for some runaway slaves as a sort of icon and haven to them. However, that is a story for another time. Besides the rifle, his katana was also on his back, it's sheath slightly above the old rifle for easy reach and convenience. So after Max came out of his own little Hobbit hole, the girl he saved some time before, Lucy West, came up to him.

"Hey, Max," she said. "How are you?"

"Oh, hi Lucy. I don't remember giving my name to you." He felt a bit uncomfortable.

"You may not know it but some people talk about you as if you were a God after you disarmed the bomb. Others say you're a hero for rescuing me and killing Burke. Others said you were dead after you didn't show for a bit. And after you returned, some said you went out West," she replied. "So getting your name was an easy feat. Plus, you're on a first name basis with the Sheriff," she joked and laughed at her remark.

Max smiled at her attempt to break some ice. "Well, I have to be off Lucy. I'm looking for someone important and dear to me. I need to find him."

She looked down but then looked at him, "Do you mind if you walk me to my home? My _real_ home out in Arefu… I'm homesick and the wastes are very dangerous these days."

Max rubbed the back of his neck. "Damn… how far is it?"

"Maybe a couple hours walk, if we head out now," she replied. "Slightly North-East."

Max scratched his head in thought and looked at the ground, then at the sky, then at Lucy, and said," Fine. We head out now before we lose the light."

Lucy made a small scream of delight and hugged Max. Soon, they were on the road headed for the settlement of Arefu.

* * *

The trip seemed peaceful and tranquil. Nothing but the wind howled, and nothing but the sand swam across the air. Max remembered the first time battling the great flying sands, and so was glad he had the matching mask of the armor he was wearing. Lucy's protection was a head scarf with some biker goggles she had hanging around her neck. If he had goggles when he left, Max though, he wouldn't have run into that ant.

Lucy was able to see nothing through Max's visor, and felt like the person guiding her through the wastes was Death himself. Death was her silent companion, leading her to a silent area where she would die and no one would know. For all she knew, Max only saved her for some sinister plan he had for the future. Maybe he didn't come from some Vault but was a raider in disguise and she was being lead to a rape followed by brutal death!

Well, at least until they started talking.

"Hey Max," Lucy called, "how come you didn't come out into town for a couple days? I heard you were back but that you weren't coming out."

"I was reading. Got to get my education, you know," he joked.

"Reading? You have books? I haven't seen many pre-war books. Just the occasional Grognak, and the rare Jerky Vendor stories."

"Well, it's like those kinds. It's an old manual given to Chinese soldiers on how to be stealthier. I found a whole box of the manuals with this suit. The manuals taught me how to put this on properly, how to use it and it gave me good advice on how not to be detected. They also taught me how to properly use a katana, even though the katana are Japanese, not Chinese," He grabbed the handle of his blade, identifying it as such.

"Oh," she muttered.

"I mean, in the Vault, I was pretty sneaky. The fun part of my job was being sneaky." He laughed, "Hell, I'd sneak out every night and no one would be the wiser."

"Where would you sneak off to?" she asked.

"Well, I'd sneak out and go sleep at my girlfriend's-"he stopped short, realizing he let out the knowledge of Amata.

"Ooh," she cooed. "Lover boy, Maxy, eh?" She gave a gentle nudge of her elbow and Max gave an awkward smile.

"Oh, God," he muttered. "Yes, in the Vault I had a girlfriend. Her name was Amata, daughter to a tyrant and a murderer and a... a _fucking_ lunatic!"

"Seems like you two aren't close," she replied. "It's normal, though. The dad is supposed to be protective of her daughter. My dad was super-"she was cut off.

"He beat his own daughter, he fetched his henchmen after me, he ordered the death of my friend, and he ordered the death of me, Lucy! A fucking tyrant!"

Lucy suddenly fell silent. She didn't want to say another word, until she heard the sobs Max gave behind his visor.

"Hey, hey, hey!" She stopped him in his march. "Is the man who saved my life going to cry over the past? They're in there and you're out here," she said, motioning to the wasteland surrounding them.

"I want to be with her, Lucy. I would give anything for her."

"Well, for now then, you'll have to settle for me. I'm not a daughter to a crazy, murdering tyrant who beats his kids. No, quite the opposite. My dad loves me and would most likely love you too. I mean, he usually loves all my friends as long as they don't try to rob or pillage us" She smiled a small, warm smile.

Max gave a small snicker. "Dork."

"Come on, it's on that bridge right there."

Max looked ahead and sure enough; there were houses on a bridge poking out of the horizon. They kept their walk to the bridge, which was actually half of a highway, and stopped at the foot of the road leading up to it. On the side, where the ascent began, was a ram-shackle house with an animal pen for Brahmin. Yet, the Brahmin in the pen were dead, flies and maggots feasting on their corpses as the hot sun hardened the animals' skin, and gave them all a putrid odor.

"Oh my god," she exclaimed. "What happened here?" She covered her nose and ran up the highway screaming, "Evan! Mr. King! Evan!" Max ran shortly behind her.

As the houses became distinguishable, an explosion knocked Lucy back, but Max caught her before she hit the floor. An elderly man wearing a cap and a jacket reminiscent of those worn by scavengers came out from behind a chunk of rebar and ran up to the duo.

"Whoa! I'm sorry, Lucy! I nearly blew you up thinking you were The Family!" The old man help pick Lucy off of Max's arm.

Lucy gently shook her head. "It's alright, Evan but who are 'The Family?' Also, have you seen mom and dad? Ian?"

"Your Mom, Dad, and Ian are home last I checked but recently, Lu, these people named the Family have been pestering us! They killed our Brahmin and we're all scared. Can you check on the town for me while I keep the area fortified? Just knock on the doors because I had everyone lock them."

Max and Lucy knocked on doors of the town of Arefu. Lucy reunited with old friends while Max met new ones, not ones he thought he would keep, though. Finally, Lucy stared at the house at the end of the highway, the house where her family lived.

Lucy knocked on the door three times. "Mom? Dad," she called. No answer. She called and knocked again but simply no answer was given.

"Give me a minute," Max said, as he knelt down in front of the door and started to pick the lock. Soon enough, the door was unlocked and the horrible smell of death filled their nostrils and burned their hair. Lucy looked inside in horror as two bodies, a male, and a female, laid on the bed. The female had her legs dangling off the side of the bed while the male was against a wall facing the dead woman.

"Mom! Dad!" Lucy ran inside and knelt before the fallen parents. She burst into tears at the sight the bite marks on their necks.

Max sat next to her and held her in his arms. "There, there," he whispered. "I'll find who did this. I'll make them pay dearly."

Lucy looked up and then surveyed the room. "Ian?" Lucy's brother wasn't anywhere in town, and she wept harder into Max's shoulder.

Max examined the bodies of Lucy's parents. Human bite marks on the necks. Stains on the fabrics reminiscent of a rail yard. No great loss of blood. The father was soaked in urine. The mother was defiled, her waist bare and legs parted. A terrible scene.

"Lucy, are there any train yards nearby?"

Lucy gave a small thought. "There's the Meresti Train Yard. Why?"

Max LeBay didn't say anything as he left the house of the deceased parents of Lucy West. He informed Evan King of the Wests' fates, where he was going and told him to take care of Lucy while he's away. With that said and done, he left for Meresti Train yard.

* * *

Getting there was fairly simple. He took out his katana and sliced away a couple mole rats, the occasional Scooby and the rare radscorpion. Soon, he found himself within the tunnels of the trains. It was quiet. A bit too quiet. Signs marked where to go and he didn't really like the idea of being lead on a specific path.

He eventually found himself in a hub, of sorts. A makeshift temple with benches on the lower level and a grand podium on top. Where the podium is, was a man with a duster looking down at him.

The man spoke. "Who is it that comes to the sanctuary of The Family?"

"I've come in search of Ian West. I've also come to put a stop to the attacks on Arefu."

"Ah, Ian. Our newest protégé. Attacks on Arefu, you say?" The man rubbed his chin a bit, as if he had a beard on his hairless jaw.

"Yes," Max said. "The attack on the parents of Ian. They're dead because of you people and you left their daughter an orphan without even a brother. I demand for him back!"

The man laughed. "Did you know it was Ian who did that? We didn't think he would do it but he had the hunger for human flesh within him! He was a famished boy. Yet, urinating on his father and raping his mother? _That_ was too far. He crossed the line with that. We told him to have at least _some _respect for the dead, too."

Max's eyes widened. "He did it? He killed his family? Where is he!"

"He's in a meditation room where he is to reflect on his actions and control the urge to feed. He mustn't be disturbed by anyone. Much less a squabble from the wastes."

"He has to come home," cried Max. "He has a sister that misses him and that cares for him."

The strange man examined Max from a top the second level. "Come forth, young one."

Cautiously, Max did so. He noticed the blade attached to the hip from the man. "Show me your blade," said the stranger.

Max unsheathed his katana from its rightful place and let the man examine it. Marvelous was all that came out from the strange man's mouth.

"Tell you what," said the man. "We fight a battle of the blades. If you win, I shall grant you safe passage through to Ian, but if I win, I get to have the sword off your dead body."

Max was at first hesitant. He was very fond of the blade, but cared more for Lucy's happiness.

Max looked down. "So it's to the death, then…Deal."

"Excellent," he said. The man unsheathed his sword and gave a small, deep menacing laugh. The man assumed a fighting pose, as Max did the same. 'Let's see if those manuals helped at all,' Max thought. The both formed fighting stances, at least twenty paces from each other, and soon, all the people in the station circled around their leader and their visitor. The two stared at one another for quite a while as silence fell upon the station. They soon charged at each other, and swung their swords at one another. The crowd jumped as the two blades met in a fury of sparks.

* * *

**_Good? Bad? Bad grammar? xD Well, sorry for bringing it up late but for some reason, the site wouldn't let me log in. I hope you all enjoyed this little chapter and stay tuned for more!_**


	9. Problems Fixed, Tears Shed

_**WARNING: This chapter has a bit more graphic content than the rest thus far. This chapter contains: Strong Language, Decapitations, Executions, Rape, Suicides and... *drum roll*...good old fashioned tears. You have been warned.**_

* * *

Max LeBay stared at his challenger. The two holding swords pointed at each other until one finally made a lung towards the other. Max's apposed charged first, raising his sword, and trying to bring it down upon Max but Max parried the blow, much to his surprise. Even more surprising to him was that he swung back in a horizontal slash, to which the other man jumped back away. They both stopped for a moment, never lowering their weapons, to regain their strength. Then they both charged. They swung at each other at the same time and their blades bounced off each other with a fury of sparks,

The two men tried slicing each other, clashing their blades together until their blades crossed one another. For the first time that Max stared into the man's eyes, he knew the person wasn't… right. As if, he was different from most people. The man tried pushing, and Max pushed back. Pushing back and forth until the man slid his sword, thereby sliding Max's sword, away from their bodies and then gave a big kick at Max's chest. Max flew back a foot or two near the podium and its ledged handrail.

The other man ran towards Max, sword in the air in a blood-curdling yell, but Max shot his legs out at the man and threw him over himself, and over the handrail. Max quickly got up and heard no collision with the ground. He walked towards the ledge and looked over. Suddenly, a hand shot up, grabbed Max by his collar, and pulled him over the handrail. As Max fell, he felt the memory of nearly dying at Tenpenny Tower. He felt the feeling of the trash elevator falling when he was on the Mother ship. And just like those two instances, he felt the cold, hard embrace of the floor below.

Max saw the man leap into the air and try and drive his blade into Max but Max rolled away, collected himself fast enough to slice at the man's left arm and severed it completely. The man grabbed at his stub of an arm, and cursed under his breath. Frightenly, the man's wound closed quickly. 'Can he heal like me,' Max wondered. The man then took out what looked like a Stealth Boy, attached it to his stubby arm, pressed a few buttons, and vanished. Max slapped his chest and also turned invisible. The crowd surrounding the arena didn't know where they were. A faint figure made itself present by the dust it stepped on and blood quickly splashed on the floor. The coven leader materialized to everyone watching, clutching his arm that used to have a Stealth Boy.

The man stopped cold in his tracks. He didn't know where Max was, who was still invisible, still hunting. He stopped, frozen in place, trying to hear the faintest sound of movement. None of the audience members made a sound as they looked down from the upper level. Yet, there was nothing. There was no sound of a step, no sounds of movement, hell, there wasn't even the sound of a decaying metro tunnel. Then, there was the sound that made many jump, some shriek and others gasp.

The sound was of a deep puncture with a hint of a wet popping. Everyone suddenly saw a thin, floating trail of crimson appear out of thin air. Then their leader appeared, followed by the appearance of Max in front of him and what stood between them was Max's katana, impaling his opponent through the chest. The man fell to his knees as Max slid his blade out of the man, who had a smirk across his face. The man grabbed Max's shoulder and pulled him close to whisper in his ear.

"You were and are a worthy opponent," he said. "I am glad that my last fight was one that was as fun as this."

"Where do I find Ian?"

"I never would've guessed that I'd be beat so soon…Find my wife, Holly and tell her that she rules the Family now. Tell her to keep our people safe. They will tell you where the boy is."

"Why do you people kill the residents of Arefu? Why hide down here like rats when the children can be free above?"

"Because there worst things out there than us. Worst things than even a Super Mutant and worst things than a pack of starved ghouls. I needed to protect my people, to provide when survival is a struggle to achieve everyday."

"Kidnapping innocents with the murder of others tells how bad The Family is."

"Ian was a boy went wrong. He doesn't have the control we have. I told him that he only drink their blood but no. He defiled them! He's too much. He's a danger to The Family. That's why I had him locked in isolation, to once again protect my people."

"I'll get him out of here. I'll send Holly your message. I'm… I'm sorry I had to do this…."

"The name, for whatever it's still worth, is Vance. And it's okay. It was the only way to find out if you were the one to finally save us. It was to remind you that death is everywhere. It'll happen to those you don't know and to those you love."

"To save you…?"

Max just looked at him, confused at how he could have possibly saved them.

"Shush," the man said. "No time for useless chatter. Now," he continued, "I ask of you one favor."

"What is it?"

"I have brought dishonor to my people by losing to you. I need to restore it the way the old warriors did. Do you know what I speak of?"

"Yes I do…"

"Thank you. I will, hopefully, see you someday soon."

The man took out a dagger and impaled himself in the chest, and he stood their paralyzed as blood flowed out of his mouth. Max took out his blade and quickly decapitated the man, before quickly prayed for the man's soul. He heard a small shriek and a sob.

Max looked up at the crowd and yelled, "Holly? Holly, Vance told me to tell you that he's passing on The Family to you. He didn't think he'd be beat. Hell, I didn't think I'd beat him. I'm sorry it had to end this way. But I need to know where Ian is."

One girl with a red shirt and overlapping vest with short, blonde hair came up to him. She looked at the body and said, "Looks like my Count Dracula finally got his steak through his heart… and then some."

"I'm sorry Holly..."

"Don't sweat it, kid… I always knew someday... I'd have to take over for one reason or another… Come on, I think Vance might've wanted you to have this."

Holly led Max into what he presumed was the bedroom she and Vance shared and watched as she unlocked a wardrobe and pulled out a sword with a golden handle that spread out closest to the blade and a small spike on the base of the hilt.

"Vance would tell me that he would want his victor to have this, so here you go. It's probably better in your hands, anyways."

Max remembered what it was like to receive his first blade: his katana. The moment seemed almost like it but not with the same start or result, only the acquisition of the blade was similar.

"As for Ian West," Holly told him, "He is on the other side of this level. Just use the terminal to open the door and take him and never come back."

Max walked to where holly pointed him to, noting the countless angry stares and scowls people gave him as he silently walked by them. He stepped up to the terminal and unlocked the door. He stepped inside and saw a hunched over boy on the floor, a pool of dried blood around him.

"Ian?" The boy slowly turned his head back and looked at Max.

"What do you want? I said I was sorry."

"Ian, my name is Max. I'm here to take you home. Lucy is home waiting, worried sick about you."

Ian stood up and a face of rage melted his boyish innocent look. "NO! I can't go back!"

"Yes you can, Ian. She's waiting there and she doesn't know it was you. I'll tell her Vance did it as long as you control your 'hunger' for blood." Max extended his open hand towards Ian.

"I can't! Don't you get it? I can't control it, it controls me! Even now, thinking of what I did to mom and dad… especially to mom… it kills me from the inside of me!"

"Ian we can get you help just come with me and I'll make sure of it!"

"No. It's too late for me… if I go back, I might do the same thing to Lucy what I did to Mom… I don't want to do that."

"I don't want you doing that either, Ian. But I know it won't happen. I'll make sure of it."

"I can't Max. I can't risk it… tell Lucy I love her. Tell her I'm sorry. For everything." Ian took out a straight razor from his pocket.

"IAN!" Max ran towards Ian as he brought the razor to his neck and sliced it open. Blood went everywhere. Ian was a human fountain of blood, repainting the dull walls of the room with splashes of red.

Max slowly walked up to the lifeless body and fell to his knees, bringing the young boy's head onto his chest. Ian's lifeless eyes stared at Max through his visor, slowly losing their color of brown they had. Max brushed his hand over Ian's eyes, closing the lids so that Ian could have ever-lasting peace wherever he would end up going. A quick prayer, and Max lifted Ian into his arms and carried him off. The people known as The Family circled Max as he carried the dead boy down the unpowered escalators.

"Stay back you shitters!" He roared at the crowd. "Stay back or so help me God; I'll cut all your damn heads off!"

One man tried reaching out to touch Ian's hand but Max pulled it away. "Don't you dare touch him!"

Max looked over his shoulder and saw Holly with a pained expression on her face, but it was also mixed with relief.

Max carried the dead Ian out of the subway tunnels, out of the train yard and through the wastes, never stopping and never shifting the body, keeping Ian within his arms like how you keep a baby. He felt emotionless as he walked through the wastes, the dust blowing at him, and nothing but the wind howling.

The reality of what he had seen hadn't fully hit him yet. That is, until he reached the base of the bridge leading to Arefu.

Max climbed up that slope and didn't make eye contact with Evan King, who looked on with a shocked awe. The people of Arefu gathered and watched as Max carried the corpse of Ian West to his past residence, delivering him to Lucy as a coroner delivers to a mortician.

He took one look at Lucy's shocked face and he fell to his knees and looked at Ian.

"I'm sorry Lucy… I couldn't save him…" Lucy ran to her dead brother, knelt beside Max, and started to sob at the sight of the slash across her brother's neck.

Max filled Lucy in on what happened and after, they both cried together. After, though, they went down the bridge and buried Lucy's family. The two went back up and stared at the horizon, sitting on the rail of the bridge, arms around each other as their tears dried on their cheeks on eyelids.

"Max," she asked, "Why did you cry if he barely met him?"

"Because I saw friends cut open over operating tables…"

Lucy looked at Max. "Where did you see such a scary thing?" Max turned and looked at Lucy.

"Well… you're going to think I'm crazy."

"I won't. You can tell me anything Max."

Max thought for a second and said, "I was abducted by an alien ship the day after I rescued you. My mission to kill Tenpenny was a success but I was badly crippled. At night, when I was staying in the tower's clinic, I was abducted."

"Don't lie to me Max."

"I'm not lying."

"How were you crippled?"

"I threw Tenpenny off the top balcony, except he held on to me, so I fell and broke many bones in my body, but at least I kept Megaton safe."

Lucy looked into Max's eyes, looking for the slightest sign of lying. She found none.

"I'm not even going to ask," she said, looking back at the vanishing horizon.

"Good," replied Max, "because it'll be a story for another time."

"What the hell am I going to do, Max? My family is dead, my childhood home is stained with their blood, and I can't stay at Megaton because I don't have any more caps to rent a room and… and… I just don't know anymore." Lucy began to weep again on Max's shoulder.

He held her close and said, "It'll be okay… Everything's going to be fine, Lucy."

"No it won't be Max! I don't have a place to go anymore. I have nothing. Not a cap to my name."

Max got down from where they sat and grabbed Lucy by the arm. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Max dragged Lucy to a small house and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me Ms. Schenzy. Max. I came by earlier to send message from Mr. King, saying it was okay to unlock your door."

A blonde woman opened the steel door, looked at Lucy and hugged her tightly. "Lucy, I'm so sorry to hear about your folks. It's just awful how they died. If there's anything you need, just ask."

"Actually, I need you to do me a favor Ms. Schenzy."

"Oh please, Max. I told you to call me Karen."

"If it's alright with you Ms. Schenzy, can Lucy stay over for the night? She's too shy and sad to ask you herself." Lucy looked at Max with a shocked and angry face.

"Of course she can. Let me take out a bedroll for her." Max and Lucy went inside as Karen Schenzy looked around in one of the scattered metal boxes in her small home for a bedroll. The walls were too close in, and with three people within the one room home, Max didn't feel well.

"I'll be back soon, Lucy."

"Where are you going?" She looked at him with a pained face.

"I'll be back soon. I'm going on an errand. I should be back by 8 at the latest."

"Don't leave me…," she cried but it was too late. Max was out the door and when she tried to follow, she opened the door and saw no Max LeBay.

* * *

Max walked a half hour away from Arefu before he came about a small raider camp. He knelt down and viewed the group of five, huddled under a makeshift shed. Three of the walls were bookshelves full of items. He spied what he needed and wanted from those shelves, but the raiders were too close to them as they were around their small campfire. He walked around the perimeter, making sure there were none but the six he saw.

He went back to the front of the shed and watched them closely. Three males, two females, but all bad odds for male raiders. The two women were scantly clothed, having only small tight leather pants and metal bowls for bras. One had pigtails that he naturally named, "Pigtails," and the other he named, "Fuzzy," since she only had fuzz on her head. One male had a Mohawk to which Max nicknamed, "Hawk Man," one had a small puff of hair where his bangs would be that he called, "Rain Drop," and the other male had strange blue hair that he named, "Blues," on account for his sad-looking face with blue hair.

Rain drop was making out with Fuzzy, touching each other, doing nasty things to one another. Max then saw how Pigtails tried flirting with Blues. She'd bend down, revealing her breasts to him in a playful way but Blues wouldn't budge. She sat on his lap and talked dirty to him but he didn't budge. It wasn't until she started taking off her skintight pants and revealing her features that Blues turned into old' Mr. Happy.

Yet, Hawk Man wouldn't take any of it. He just sat and watched as he was being left all alone, the girls making out with two guys other than him. Therefore, he got up and threw Pigtails off Blues, took out his Chinese pistol and shot Blues from under his chin twice. That made Max nearly gasp thus, nearly giving away his position. Just because he can't be seen, doesn't mean he can't be heard.

What Hawk Man did showed Max exactly how much the wasteland was cruel. After killing Blues, Hawk Man threw his gun down, unbuckled his belt, pulled down his pants, and raped Pigtails. Rain Drop and Fuzzy only looked on, probably thinking of joining. Hawk Man then got his belt, and strangled Rain Drop until his faced turned blue. He did the same to Fuzzy what he did to Pigtails. The two girls huddled together near the fire terrified of the man. Hawk Man laughed manically as he picked up Pigtails and licked her face, much to her disgust.

Max couldn't take much more. He cautiously snuck up to the camp and retrieved Hawk Man's discarded pistol. He crept closer and unsheathed his katana and right as Hawk Man was going to defile Pigtails again, Max brought his katana down upon Hawk Man's penis, cutting it off. Hawk Man screamed in terror and pain. Max followed up by slicing into Hawk Man's legs, sending him to the floor.

"So like raping women, huh?" Hawk Man tried crawling out of the small camp, and Max kicked him in the side, sending him out of the small shed. "You get a _kick_ out of killing men for women you'll probably kill anyways?"

Hawk Man turned over on his back, facing Max and said in a Boston drawl, "What do you care for? They're sluts." Max brought up his katana and impaled it through the man's shoulder, who let out an agonizing scream.

"You fucking shitter!" Max took out the sword Holly gave him and ran it through the man's other shoulder; two swords jutting out both his shoulders, the points within the dirt, rendered him immobilized.

Hawk Man coughed up blood. "If I'm a shitter, then who are you? Mr. 'Almighty God?'"

Max took off his suit's stealth mask. "My name? My name is Max LeBay, and I am not God. But I am going to be the one that sends you to Hell." Not a moment after that, Max fired one shot into the head of Hawk Man with his own pistol.

Max dropped the gun, recovered his blades, and went back to the camp. The two raider women were there, shaking in fear.

"Get dressed, and do something useful with your lives because I swear, if I see either of you two as raiders again, you'll end up like him," he said, motioning to his recent kill.

Just as he finished saying his sentence, the two women soon were dressed and hid behind the shelves. Max paid no attention to them. Instead, he got what he went there for: Abraxo Cleaner, a bucket, a couple boxes of detergent and even found a nifty whetstone. He packed it in the pack Moira gave him when he first met her and he took off after eating a couple cans of Pork N' Beans.

Max got back in Arefu an hour late than he expected. His little endeavor with the raiders took him longer than he thought but he hoped Lucy didn't get too worried.

"Where were you," asked Lucy, after Max made his way back to Karen Schenzy's house.

"I went on errands, like I said."

Lucy crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow. "It took three hours for an errand run?"

"Well if these burnt-out cars worked, I wouldn't have had to walk. But, since I had to walk, it took a while."

"What did you bring back?"

"Some things to help me get back to Megaton in one piece. I even found a sharpening stone for my swords." He took out the whetstone to show Lucy.

"Oh…," she replied. "I guess I'm staying with Karen then until I can find a new home…"

Max put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Lu. I am. Just stay here for the night. Trust me."

"Okay…"

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going outside to sharpen my swords."

In reality, Max didn't go outside to sharpen his blades. He went to the West Residence and looked inside the bloody crime scene. He went down to the river, filled his bucket full of water from the river, and went back up to the house. When he was inside, he took out a box of Abraxo Cleaner, dumped the powder into the bucket, mixing it well, and then put the cloth into the mixed water. Max scrubbed the walls and floor off the entire house, not only taking away the bloodstains, but also the smell of death, blood, and decay, and, taking away a terrible layer of dirt and dust.

When all that was done, he went to the river and dumped the old water back into the river. After all, the river was already fucked up with radiation. Some dirty water shouldn't make it worse than it already is. He filled it with more water, and carried it back up to the house. There, he dumped the box of detergent and washed everything on the bed of blood.

Now all that was left was to let everything dry.

The next morning, Max went and got Lucy, bringing her to the house with his hands over her eyes. He opened the door to her house and showed her what he had done.

* * *

**_At over 3,ooo words, I just made sure everything was spelled right and that at least half the story made sense in my mind. Did it come off that way to you? Was something so weird and off that you thought, "WTF...?" THen, leave a constructive criticism in the review box and I'll take your notes into consideration and will change / add it into the chapter! Hooray! But, it has to be within REASON and not something that distorts the Fallout Universe, sound incredibly ridiculous nor be spam -,-_**

**_Update: So I got a review that told me I said there were 6 raiders when I only mention five so fixed that c: _**

**_Thanks for checking out Chapter 9 of Max LeBay's story and stay tuned for Chapter 10._**

**_-M.A. Cunningham_**


	10. GNR Here We Come

_**Hey guys. Sorry I haven't posted anything in such a while. I got really lazy writing this just because i didn't feel in the mood to write. Every now and then, I'd write a bit and decided just to finish it for you guys to enjoy. Hope it pleases you all c:**_

* * *

"Be safe okay," Lucy told Max before closing her arms around his neck in a hug.

"I will be. Don't worry about me; I've been taking care of myself for almost two weeks already. In fact, I should worry about you. After all, with Karen's cooking, you'd die faster than if you were in a nest of radscorpions." Max gave a small laugh and noticed Karen Schenzy's sour face directed straight at him. "Kidding, Karen."

"So where are you headed Max?"

"Well Lucy, I came out here into the harsh wasteland to find glory where my vault had none. No, I'm kidding. I'm out here to find my father, James, and that's exactly what I'll do…. Hopefully I find _something _of him, at least…."

"You don't think you'll find him?"

"I don't know… it's been almost two weeks since he and I both left the Vault and I haven't even picked up a trail of where to go. He could be dead for all I know! God, two weeks out here and the best thing I had accomplished was killing an old man." Max sat down and buried his face in his hands, his chocolate brown hair falling from its Blast Back style over his hands.

"Well, if you're willing to take the trip, you can go visit Three Dog and he can send an announcement over the radio, saying to send word if anyone finds trace of your father," Lucy told him.

Max looked at her in confusion. "Who the hell is 'Three Dog?'"

"You don't know who Three Dog is?"

"I don't even know why he'd call himself Three Dog."

"He's the guy who runs Galaxy News Radio. Have you heard of that at least?"

"No…" Lucy looked at Max in shock.

"Damn, Max. Where did you live your while life? Under a rock?"

"No, underground in a 200 year old nuclear fallout shelter."

"Wise ass," she laughed. "Well Galaxy News Radio is one of two active radio stations in the wasteland, but it's also the best. Three-Dog makes announcements, plays great music, and brightens the days of all of us. He and the station are located in the D.C. Ruins."

"Great!"he exclaimed as he stood up. "How do I get there?"

"You're seriously going there?"

"If there's a chance I can have help finding my father, then yes."

"It's dangerous Max. You can be killed!"

"Everything in this world can kill me! Especially out here. In this wasteland, there are things that can turn me into a bloody piece of gum under their shoes. I have to take chances, Lucy. Even if it means I can die." Lucy looked at Max teary-eyed.

"I don't want you gone…"

Max cupped Lucy's face in his hands, looked her in the eyes, and said, "You won't lose me. Especially with this suit on me! I can be utterly invisible and sneak by anything that poses a threat to me." Lucy looked down, knowing he was right. She had seen it for himself earlier that morning. "Can you show me where to go so I can get to Galaxy News?"

Lucy wiped her nose and eyes and marked down the route to the station on Max's wrist-mounted Pip=-Boy 3000A. "Come back to me in one piece okay?"

"I will. I might even bring you back an autograph. Here," he said, giving Lucy Vance's sword. "Use this to protect yourself and the town if anyone comes up that bridge with murder in mind."

"Okay..." she whispered. She waved Max goodbye and watched as Max LeBay, the last person she really had any strong connection with, given the circumstances, leave. She really hoped he'd come back to her. In the back of her mind, she imagined him coming back up that bridge unharmed, letter of love in hand with maybe a scavenged pre-war necklace in the other hand. She gave it a second thought. No love letter, no jewelry in his hands, but her hands in his. That's what she wanted.

As Max stepped out the door of the Schenzy Residence, he hoped he'd be alive to see Lucy. She was a great girl, great attitude and had this certain feeling about her... he smiled. He'd try to as hard as humanly possible to make it back to her in one piece because she was the only person he made a special bond with outside in the wasteland. He smiled, knowing he'd come back to his friend.

* * *

Getting there to the metro station took a couple hours walk because inside the service tunnels were a small "herd" of mole rats, which he still called squirrels. Easy pickings for Max, and even easier lunch. Luckily, a wastelander was huddled by an open flame he made. Too bad the person was dead, riddled with bite and claw marks and chunks of flesh ripped out of him. Max searched his body, and found a single grenade in the man's pocket. Max thought it would be worth a couple of caps in some town. Maybe he could get 100 caps from a scavenger. He still hasn't really figured out how to barter with caps yet.

Max made his way through the subway tunnels, when he stumbled across a hunched over person down the tunnel. He uncloaked his invisibility to make sure he was seen if the person needed help.

"Hello?" he cried. The person stood up, exposing Max to the silhouette's skinny, skinny form. "Are you okay?" The silhouette turned around and let out a screech before sprinting at Max. As it ran towards Max, the still operating, but dim subway lights showed the person's disfigured body, malformed face, and pasty, peeling skin. It was a ghoul, like Gob back in Megaton, only that this one was barely wearing a piece of cloth across his waist.

As it got close enough, Max noticed the blank look in its one surviving eye; that look of insanity and rage was in its eye, directed toward Max. He quickly unsheathed his katana but the ghoul tackled him before he could take it out. It was on top of him, trying to sink its jaws into his neck for the kill but Max was desperately trying to keep it away from as much as got a quick second of freedom and punched it on its left temple, stunning it long enough to get it thrown off him. Max stood up quickly and cloaked. The creature stopped and sniffed the air closely, intent on sniffing out its prey. It looked around. Did it smell Max? Or did it smell the gas leaking out of the old pipes? Or was it the stench of its own decay? As soon as it caught wind of Max's scent and let out its screech of attack, the ghoul's head fell off its body, beheaded by Max's katana.

As the head rolled to a stop, Max was paralyzed by a plethora of screeches emanating from farther in the tunnels. He saw the shadows of ghouls turning the corner of the subway tunnels, having heard the screech of their fallen brother. It was too late to turn on his cloak. The ghouls had spotted him and they ran at him. Maybe twenty ran at him, all intent on making Max their feast for all. Max took a deep breath and took out his katana, the faint light of the tunnels reflecting light of the recently cared for got closer and closer to him with each passing thought in his mind. _Please God, give me strength, and give me the endurance to survive. Give me the swiftness to take these demons down with ease and fluency so that my mission can be complete._

They were on him. _Slash-slash-slash._ Three went down. He beheaded a couple more ghouls and pushed back others before more came and took their places. For every ghoul he would kill, it seemed two more took their place and it was soon plainly obvious to Max that he was going to be swarmed, and mauled in a greatly grotesque way.

Max turned faced a ghoul, its mouth agape, letting out its screech of attack before running at Max with its nasty, foul mouth wide open. With a bit of quick thinking, Max came up with a plan, and it began by grabbing that ghoul's neck. It kept trying to bite and claw at Max as he held it, and so he decided to give the damn ghoul an appetizer, meal and dessert, all in one sitting. He took out the grenade he found earlier and stuffed it down the ghoul's scrawny neck, pulling the pin and finally slicing its frail legs off its body. Max ran away from the horde of mindless beings, desperate in trying to get away from the blast zone.

An explosion came, followed by an even bigger explosion of fire. The result of a grenade explosion near exposed gas. The tunnel was quickly flooded by the stench of burning flesh and the sounds of burning ghouls. Max walked back from where he ran from, and saw the burning corpses of the deranged savages litter the ground, some clawing at themselves trying to get the flames off their bodies, and saw others, unscathed by the explosion, feast on their fallen comrades who were now burnt to a toasty crisp.

After dispatching the last remaining ghouls, Max continued onward, traveling deeper into the tunnels, cloaked for safety this time. There was a small room up a flight of stairs that faced a locked gate, his brick wall, of sorts.

The small room was… heavy. The air was heavy and the skeleton with the blown up head didn't help ease the mood. Worst of all, it was slumped over the only working terminal. Max pushed over the skeleton, and wiped his hands on old old wash clothe before logging on to the terminal. It was password locked but luckily, it was extremely easy to hack the archives for the login code, especially since the computer gave out false codes such as "( L#D*& " as codes. Seriously, Max had three tries to find the right code and there were only two logical choices. One was "login' and the other, "fuckit." Guess which was the password. He had three chances and two options. A couple prompts opened up as he logged-in: _Unlock Gate, Turn on Gas Pipes, Open Safe, _and C_ontact Metro Central._

First off, of course, Max opened up the safe and found a 10mm pistol with some extra clips and a holster with magazine pouches. A bit of food, which he quickly ate, a few stimpaks that he put in his small backpack and a magazine of _Nikola Tesla & You._ He stuffed it in his pack and continued onward ny unlocking the gate blocking his path.

Max snuck past a couple more ghouls, killed a few raiders, and took a switchblade off from one of them, and eventually made his way out of the station and into Chevy Chase. Lo and behold, there was a sign that showed an arrow pointing to the left with "GNR" next to it. As he took a couple more steps out of the stairs to the station, he heard a terrible laughter, followed by a brutish comment on how to cook human legs just right. He froze instantly. Then, stepping out of a building, were three giant, green humanoid monsters. A mix of various greens, reds and yellows resulting in a green resembling sewage painted their bodies. They looked to be pure muscle with baldheads and giant, toothy scowls running across their faces. _God, they were huge, _Max thought. They stood at about seven feet tall, and maybe three or four feet across from shoulder to shoulder. _Weren't those the things on the ship…?_

In their giant green hands, one wielded a sledgehammer; one had a giant stick with a couple nails jutting out of its end, and one came out with a rocket launcher strapped to its back. Great. At least he was still cloaked. Max took out the switchblade and brought its blade out before weighing it in his hand. If everything went well, the knife could kill the grenadier if he throw it at him-no, her. It? He didn't want to spend an hour finding out if the mutant was a girl or boy. Max for the grenadier's head, and let the knife fly.

Time seemed to slow down as the knife flew out of Max's hand, losing its own cloak, and spin towards the mutant's head. It hit its mark, but the damned thing didn't go down. The three mutants were a bit startled that the knife came out of nowhere, but the grenadier just took the blade out of its skull, revealing the two inches of the blade covered in dark blood. The grenadier ordered the two grunts to search around for anything suspicious. The wind picked up, and dust and gravel blew towards Max and got on him, revealing his location to the mutants. _Fucking wind._

"FOUND YOU!" A mutant yelled, swinging his hammer at Max, but he ducked, saving his head. Max disabled his cloak, feeling no need to wear it since his staggering breath would give him away anyways. The other mutant tried bringing his nail board down upon Max but the latter swung his sword up, slicing the rotting wood into two before jumping and implanting his blade into the mutant's skull, killing the foul creature. Unfortunately, the katana was lodged deep in the bastard's head, forcing Max to leave it as the sledgie raised his weapon.

The grenadier was busy trying to get a good shot at Max, following him with the missile launcher's scope. Meanwhile, as the sledgie was bringing its hammer down upon Max, Max quickly took out his recovered pistol and shot the mutant twice in the head, only stunning and disarming it. Finally, the grenadier shot one missile a bit too far to the side, directly hitting its mutant companion and sending Max flying backwards.

Max ran back to the cover of the subways entrance but when the mutant primed his missile launcher at Max, he knew he was in for it. Max took one quick shot at the mutant, hitting its arm that held the rocket launcher, making it miss its intended target. Instead, the rocket flew above Max, hitting the overhead glass panel roofing's foundations. With the foundation destroyed, it tumbled down upon the entrance, forcing Max to scrabble out of harm's way and blocking his path of escape.

Max quickly got up and shot his pistol five times at the mutant, hitting it in the chest, but the bullets hit the makeshift armor on its chest, ignoring their power. The grenadier loaded another rocket into his weapon's chamber, forcing Max to find cover around the corner of a nearby ruined building. The mutant wasted no time in shooting a missile at Max, blowing a chunk of the building's corner in the process. Max ran out of cover and gave the grenadier mutant four shots to the head and stopped, facing the mutant who was at a standstill.

Max had one more bullet in the chamber and the mutant had a newly acquired assault rifle pointed at him.

"Looks like it's a standoff," he told the mutant.

"No standoff," it replied. "Me kill you fi—," was all that came out as Max fired his bullet, and seeing an explosion rip the mutant into pieces.

From where a rocket flew off from the inside corner of a collapsed office, Max saw three figures dressed in pale blue armor, two were giving each other high fives and the other, a blonde woman, appeared annoyed at the whole ordeal.

"Hey," he yelled, waving at his saviors. He quickly found the first mutant he killed, pressed his boot against its head and yanked out his katana, unscathed, albeit a bit bloody, and put it in its sheath before running across the remains of the office building's floor to reach the three figures. "Who are you guys," he asked them. The blonde woman and one of the helmeted soldiers held clunky rifles with box shaped barrels. They didn't look like conventional weapons. The other soldier had a standard missile launcher like the one the grenadier mutant had.

The blonde woman came up to him and answered. "We're the Brotherhood of Steel. D.C chapter. If you have no further questions, we have to go meet our troops back at GNR for a super mutant attack."

"Super mutants? Were they those things?"

"Yeah, those big ugly green shits are super mutants. Where have you been your whole life? Under a rock?"

"You can say that. You could also say I'm semi-new to this wasteland."

"Great thing to know," she replied sarcastically.

"Do you guys need any help? I can sneak up on them and even give you guys a distraction to take shots."

"It's your funeral. Come on, we wasted enough time here saving your ass and now we're wasting time talking to it. Let's go boys!" She put on her helmet and the squad of four made a small jog through some alleys of surviving office buildings and came up to the entrance to a courtyard with bullets and lasers flying over every side.

Max looked around, seeing soldiers in the exact armor and holding pretty much the same strange weapons shoot off lasers, burning the super mutants across the courtyard, which Max now noticed was a ruined playground.

"Jenkins. Jenkins. Jenkins! Wake up you son of a bitch! Wake up!" Max turned and saw a soldier yelling at a man lying on a mattress. Another soldier with a red cross on his shoulder plate turned the body on its back and noticed a blood stain on the man's side. A bullet penetrated the soft part of his armour, Max thought. He was gone.

Max loaded his pistol with a fresh magazine and took out his katana. He approached the blonde woman cautiously, who was knelt down far within the green zone, looking over plans a soldier brought to her. "I'm going to sneak to their side and shoot them a couple times. When I do, you pick off any distracted. If there's any more after, we'll rinse and repeat. Got it?"

"Sure. Whatever." She didn't think he'd make it. After all, only the best of the best reconnaissance agents that received Brotherhood training could sneak past a team of super mutants undetected.

Max cloaked far behind friendly lines and made his approach, taking care not to be too careless. He was invisible, not invincible after all. Once he got behind a blown up car, and yes, there was one on the playground area, he shot off a couple rounds at the ones on the second story of the mutant's building. The mutant sniper stopped to try to find his assailant but he was stopped short from a bullet to the head, compliments from a Brotherhood sniper.

Max, with the help of some brotherhood soldiers, picked off a couple more mutants when Max saw a brown slop fly through the air. As it flew, a soldier on the other side of the playground was creeping up on the mutants when the slop hit him. The soldier's armour started to sizzle and soon the soldier was rolling on the floor screaming. The slop was actually eating away at the protective barrier he had until the man froze in place, seemingly unable to move. He kept screaming and screaming for help but the only help that came was a super mutant with a sledgehammer, which was brought down on the head of that poor soldier before being gunned down by soldiers.

Out from inside the building the mutants occupied were these pink, fleshy masses. They were so disfigured and disgusting to Max. They had the torso and head of a human, albeit with bones stubs at the shoulder instead of arms. It had a three-pronged tongue flowing out of its mouth and an abdomen carried by human arms.

"Centaurs! Watch out," the blonde woman yelled. A couple soldiers focused their fire on these next two emerged centaurs, bringing them down rather easily. "Reddin, be a useful bitch and take these muties out," the same woman yelled.

"Yes Sentinel Lyons," she replied. Within minutes of Sentinel Lyons giving out strategic commands, the mutants were vanquished and Max felt obsolete at this, remembering the days back on the mothership where he was the one providing most of the work to be done.

The team of fourteen, not including Max, moved on, entering the building they once shot at, discovering it was just a school. Nonetheless, mutants stood on the top floor shooting down from the collapsed sections of the floor at the soldiers. Thankfully, the two soldiers armed with miniguns tore the mutants to shreds soon enough. More reasons to feel useless. The eventually came out, guns a blazing into another courtyard, this time, with a giant sign that said GNR above the main entrance and a glorious fountain in the middle. Unfortunately, many mutants were there fighting what was left of the brotherhood of steel presence there.

"Okay team," Sentinel Lyons yelled, "let's clean house." The fourteen heads of brotherhood soldiers went running to the courtyard shooting every green giant that moved. Max followed cloaked, close behind and paying attention to the consistent vibrations the ground made. Something big was coming, he thought. Really big.

_**Update: So there seems to be some confusion and many questions on Mothership Zeta and many other DlC's. I don't really want to have Max do Operation: Anchorage because personally, I'd always endure that DLC because of the rewards in the end. I swear, it would always crash in the exact same place at least once in EVERY playthrough. Plus, the story wasn't that great. So, I decided to merge some elements of Operation: Anchorage into Mothership Zeta that shall be described in the next chapter. **_

_**Sorry for any inconveniences and any confusion.**_


	11. Bow wow wow!

_**Here it is guys! Chapter 11! Bow wow wow.**_

* * *

The sharp smell of blood was in the air. Max LeBay watched as soldiers of the Brotherhood of Steel ran guns – or should he say _lasers_ a blazing into the radio station's courtyard, shooting any and all Super Mutant they came across. Fourteen went in, hoping to make it to their ally's position in front of the station. The Brotherhood was prepared, he observed, since on the two opposite balconies of Galaxy News Radio had manned turrets shooting down on the horde of green uglies while troops on the floor below had sand bag fortifications on all corners of the building's front entrance.

The fourteen soldiers that Max met, commanded by Sentinel Sarah Lyons, reached their armoured comrades, but unfortunately, three died on the way. A super mutant was apparently going to toss a grenade at the Brotherhood defenders, but the machine-gunnin' soldiers shredded its body with lead, making it drop its grenade. The damned thing rolled close enough to the squad of fourteen and took out two of the men, blowing chunks of their bodies off, even with their armor on.

One of those men lost both his legs, but was still alive, albeit screaming in agony. Another man from the squad stopped to help him, but a mutant with a large sledgehammer hit the man in the chest, knocking him down before bringing the weapon upon the soldier's head as hard as it could. _God, _Max thought. All he did was watch in the sidelines cloaked. He noticed the dead brotherhood soldier on the fountain. He was dead and poised in almost the exact manner Allistair Tenpenny landed as they fell of the tower.

Dead, with their bodies arced upwards as their spine bent around the edge of the fountain, looking upwards at the grey sky. Max thought of backing out. It was too much. He had it easy since his katana cut through most things like butter… but these… These mutants were too thick to slice through in one slice. His suit wouldn't provide much aid if they shot him. A way out was what he wanted. It was what he needed.

He noted the subway entrance off to the far side of the courtyard, out of the way and remote. He'd see the battle through, help if he could but if things took a turn for the crappiest worse it can ever be, he'd cloak and run through the subway and hope he'd find his dad out of sheer luck. He'd see the fight through first.

Luckily, Sarah and her dozen of Brotherhood companions reached the others, and made no hesitation to focus their attention on the annihilation of the Super Mutants. They were doing pretty well too. They reduced the number of mutants from about thirty to ten with only four soldiers dying out of the twenty they had. All was going well until his planned escape route turned into a death sentence. More mutants broke through the gate door of the subway entrance, flooding into the courtyard. These ones, instead of having conventional firearms like the first ones, had laser weapons like the Brotherhood, seemed at least a foot taller, with thicker necks and went down slower with bullets than the ones that were there fighting first.

"Overlords! Watch out," Sarah yelled. "You," she pointed at a soldier, "get the Fatman and blow that tunnel! Now!"

The Brotherhood soldier ran to the corner of the fortification and took out a big contraption, looking almost like a half-built missile launcher, having an exposed top and hardly any scope. He aimed the thing at the subway entrance, loaded something the color of an olive-drab and shot it. No sooner that he shot the strange device was he shot down by the lasers of the Overlords. What he shot out of that "Fatman" though, created a _big_ explosion, made a mushroom cloud that scared the living hell out of Max and collapsed the entrance to Max's escape route, all while blowing up some mutants too close to the blast zone.

_Great,_ Max thought. He was stuck there. He'd definitely need to kill these things to get to Three Dog. Maybe… maybe he _did_ learn something in biology that could help him out. Mr. Brotch always told the class not to mess with your spine or else any number of terrible things could happen. Max eyed a bare-torso mutant and indeed saw the form of a spine on the back of the mutant.

Silently unsheathing his katana, Max crept up on the unaware mutant, as it was busy shooting at Brotherhod soldiers. Without a care in the world about its own well-being, it shot at the soldiers while out in the open. Big mistake. Max raised his katana and with a loud roar, impaled the sword through the middle of the Super Mutant's spine, flaring up a painful shriek from its sneer of a mouth and forcing it down to the floor.

As the mutant went down, the soldiers of the Brotherhood of Steel raised their weapons at it and blew it to hell. Max turned and stared at an Overlord, standing roughly two to three feet over Max, shooting its laser rifle at the defendant brotherhood. He carefully revolved around the mutant but saw that there was a bulge where his back meets his neck.

So, as any curious boy does with the capable tools, he stabbed it, hard. It ran through the mutant's neck and came out the other end. The other super mutants noticed a floating streak of blood, and started shooting at it like no tomorrow, effectively finishing the Overlord.

Max went in a panic. He didn't know if they knew he was there or not so he took the Overlord's rifle and started shooting the heads of any mutant he saw. The laser rifle was pretty effective at mutant killing. Moreover, it was just like shooting a regular rifle, he found out. He didn't notice he killed four mutants alone, before leaving with his katana and the rifle.

With only eight Super Mutants to go, five of which were Overlords, Max and the Brotherhood of Steel made short work of the rest of the Super Mutant force. All was well, Max thought. A spine stabbing here and impaling throats over there and the courtyard was littered with the corpses of Super Mutants, but not without the cost of Brotherhood lives.

"Alright. Round up our dead, collect weapons, ammo, and anything that we can salvage. Move it people!" Oh, Sarah. So charming. Max helped carry bodies of the Brotherhood of Steel behind the sand bag fort and had them lined up against each other. Sarah told him to collect their Holotags while Reddin and some of the other soldiers looked for weapons. It seemed simple. Collecting items was a simple task. He'd done it before. No biggey.

"I'm gonna look for any weapon caches the Muties might've left in these buses, ma'am," Reddin yelled at Sarah.

"Just make sure you don't break your nail, Reddin," she replied mockingly.

When Max was done, he felt the vibrations again. They seemed louder, closer and he knew others felt it. He thought it was the vibrations of bodies hitting the ground, or maybe the shockwaves from explosions but these… these were more constant.

He looked at Sarah in a puzzled way. She listened intently…. Thinking before her eyes widened. She ran down GNR's entrance stairs and yelled, "Behemoth! Reddin, get away from those-" Sarah was cut off as the two buses exploded in a fiery cloud, engulfing Recruit Reddin.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire," Max muttered, unsheathing his katana. As the fire went away, smoke took its place. Brotherhood soldiers made a line with rifles pointed at the smoke. A second later, a half of a bus flew at them, crushing most and injuring others. A roar echoed through the ruins as a giant Super Mutant came through the smoke gripping a large pole with a billboard at its end.

It was maybe twenty feet, with pieces of cars as armor, a car door as a shield strapped to its left arm and, a necklace of human skulls around its thick neck. Max saw what looked like a backpack on the Mutant made up cages somehow put together out of shopping carts. In the cages were bodies. Human bodies, bodies of wasteland creatures. "Oh, God…," Max said in disbelief.

Max put away his katana, knowing it wouldn't stand a chance against an even bigger Mutant. He searched around and picked up a laser rifle and joined the Brotherhood in shooting the large monstrosity.

Unfortunately, it didn't care. Then the manned turrets came in, shooting storms of bullets at the creature and that's what ticked it off. The Behemoth stomped its way to on the turrets, picked up the soldier operating it, and smashed it in its massive hands.

Suddenly, Max knew how to take care of it. He found the Fatman and took it to Sarah. "Sarah, where's the ammo for this thing?"

She stopped shooting at the behemoth tearing apart her soldiers and pointed to a crate with a picture of a mushroom cloud in an out of the way area before continuing her assault. He opened the box and was surprised. _What the fuck are these things,_ he thought, picking up a football-sized… nuke? It was the shape of the damned nuke in Megaton! He remembered what it did when the Brotherhood soldier shot it and said to himself, "This should do wonders!" Before he closed the box, he took the last grenade within it.

He loaded the tiny nuke onto the Fatman, seeing a small grip device keep the nuke in place and ran across the courtyard where the Metro entrance was. "Hey, shitter!" Max pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it at the super mutant, blowing up near its back. It turned around and ran at Max, eyes of fury directed at him. "Say 'Hi' to Reddin for me," he said as he launched the mini nuke at the mutant, effectively hitting it in the chest.

The blast stunned and blinded Max for a second before he notice just how much damage he caused to the abomination. The nuke ripped the Behemoth into pieces, dismembering it and decapitating it. The Behemoth, with its large body, also shielded the Brotherhood forces from any damage the explosion might've caused them. Lady Luck struck again! The Brotherhood soldiers raised their rifles and cheered. Even Sarah raised her rifle and gave a nod to Max, giving a nod back.

Max went up to his new monumental kill and found the cage backpack, relatively unscathed, except for a few burns. He pulled out any Brotherhood soldiers and gave their Holotags to Sarah. He found some caps, a broken syringe, and a clip of pistol ammo.

Finally, after receiving word over the door's intercom that they unlocked the doors, Max finally went inside the Galaxy News Radio building. When he stepped inside the building, cheers and claps swarmed Max. Inside the building were more Brotherhood of Steel soldiers, armed to the teeth but clapping for Max, cheering that he took down a behemoth all by himself.

One soldier patted him on the back, to which Max asked where he could find Three Dog. The soldier pointed to a single door in the middle of a wall overlooking the entrance to the building. Max cloaked to get away from the soldiers cheers and went through the door to a room with no people in it.

"Hello?" Max uncloaked and walked around. "Three Dog?" Max ascended the stairway in the middle of the room and met a gaze with a man in shades. He took off his mask to take a good look at the man before him.

"Well if my eyes don't deceive me, and I'm sure they don't, I am looking at a spitting image of James LeBay. Tell me son, what took you so damn long to reach me?"

Max grew joyful. "You met my father? Then he _did _come here! Is he still around?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I said, trying to calm down Max. "Yes, your father came here. He asked me some things, and then left after I told him what he wanted to know. He's not here… sorry kid."

"Oh…"

"What I _could_ do, though, is tell you where he went. For a small favor."

"Can't you just tell me? I've been wandering this damned wasteland for _two_ weeks, drank nasty cola that nearly got me killed, and was nearly gotten blown up in space. I've seen shit I wish I've never seen, had many friends die, and experienced a world I never wanted to experience. I was put to death _twice_, had people die in my arms and now I have you keep information from me that can help me find my dad, which is the entire reason I'm fucking out here risking my neck!"

Stunned, I gave a whistle of disbelief and said, "Ha. I thought I had a bad day." There was silence between them for a brief moment. "Okay fine. I'll tell you where your dad went." Max's face lit up. "Your dear old dad James came here and started talking about Project Purity and Doctor Li and other things about sciencey things I didn't quite understand. He did, though, say he was going to visit the good old Doctor."

"Where is Doctor Li?"

"She's at Rivet City. I'm not sure if he's still there, though."

"Um, where _is_ Rivet City?"

He may have not known but my eyes widened behind my glasses. "You don't know where Rivet City is? It's just down the river! My god boy, where have you been the past 200 years?"

"Well, I'm not sure where I was for the other 181 years but I was at Vault 101 for 19 of them," he replied dryly.

"I know. I hear great things about you, Max. Some great and some weird… Some… unknown to me. Those unknowns is what I want to hear."

Max eyed the famed Three Dog, bow wow wow, and asked, "What exactly do you want to know?"

"Where were you those two weeks after Mister Allistair Tenpenny fell off his Tower's balcony with him dying and his assailant vanishing from the clinic with a broken body?"

"Eh… that's a bit sketchy."

I smoothed down my mustache. "Help me out here, Maxy. The people want to hear more about you. Those two weeks without you have garnered more and more requests for info on you. I don't have anything to give them besides the Megaton Nuke being disarmed and that you came from a Vault. I need info from those two weeks, and getting here shouldn't have been like cutting cake. I'm sure they would want to know what happened as you traveled here."

"The wasteland knows about that?"

"Hell yes they know about it. You've become a sort of icon for these folks of the wasteland! One of the few people out in this wasteland doing any good for humanity comes from a pampered Vault! On a trek to search for his father and killing tyrants and mutants on the way. It brings me to one question: Will you inform your fans on your unknown journey?"

Silence.

"Okay. I'll do it. How are we going to though?"

I laughed. "With my baby, of course! We can record it and broadcast it for all to hear."

"What if I want to listen to it sometime after we record it?"

"Well son, just tune a radio to 103.8 FM. Make sure its 103.8 because if it's not, it's just that stupid Enclave station. Trust me, just a load of bull comes from that."

"103.8, eh? Alright, let me see." Max brought up his Pip-Boy 3000 and went to the little tab that titled, "Radio," and tuned the frequency to 103.8 and was serenated by smooth jazz coming out of the device's speakers. "Beautiful."

"isn't it? It took me a while to set everything up, but we can talk about that later. Right now," I said, wrapping an arm around Max's shoulder, "we got an interview to do."

"Okay, What would you like to know?"

"Well first off, Max," I stopped him, eyeing the blade on his back, "wear in the hell did you get this katana?"

"From a faraway land… How did you know what this was?" I gave Max a sly smile.

"Maxy, may I call you Maxy?" I didn't give him time to respond before I went on. "If you walked a mile in my shoes, well, you'd have blisters the size of Radroaches. Other than that, you'd find that during my travels, I seen many old pictures, read many pre-war books, gazed at my share of pre-war comics and even found a couple toys. At least one-third of those mention a katana, an old eastern bladed weapon with a curved cutter. I know they're old too, if that wasn't obvious."

"So you would wander? Wandering the wasteland was your life until you found this place."

"Not exactly. Close though. See, my parents were part of a pack of traveling performers. We'd wander town to town, settlement to settlement and put on shows. After a couple years, I grew tired of it all and finally left Ma and Pa to find my own voice. It was rough. Eventually, after years and years of traveling, I found Galaxy News Radio and decided to pledge my life to fighting the Good Fight against raiders, slavers, the muties, mercs and those damn Enclave. During my travels, I'd collect things, weapons, clothing, armor and the like, and after I made GNR my home base, I decided to put all my things away, making this my baby, and my treasures a reward for those that earn it.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because after the interview, I have one favor to ask of you, Max."

"What is it?"

"I need you to replace my broadcast dish that a super mutant with a rifle decided to use as target practice. Believe it or not, that limits my broadcast range, leaving only the people nearest to the Ruins of D.C. able to hear the music and announcements."

Max remembered when he first entered Moriarty's Saloon, seeing Gob hit the radio playing jagged white noise. "That's why I didn't hear about you until now…"

"Yep. Megaton, Arefu, Girdershade and the Republic of Dave. Any settlement outside the ruins gets static, making the Good Fight a hard fight outside the city. That's why, Max, I need you to replace that dish. With your interview broadcasting through the waves twenty-four-seven, everyone would be fighting the Good Fight. You'd give the people of the wasteland hope! And believe me, hope is hard thing to have these days. When it's all done and good, not only will you be giving hope to the people across the wasteland, but I'll through in where to find my stash of valuables."

Silence.

"Alright," Max said.

"Ha ha," I cheered. "Okay, let's get this thing started!"

* * *

_** Sorry I took so long on this chapter but I really wanted to get most of my facts right, backstory wise, while also adding a bit of my own touch to it. What did you guys think of the meeting? Leave some constructive review on your thoughts, suggestions, advice and I'll note them for the next chapter :D **_

_***SPOILER ALERT* Max will tell his tale of Mothership Zeta. :o Stay tuned!**_

_**Also, we have a new Beta/Co-Author: Alone in the blight, who unfortunately couldn't help with this chapter due to computer malfunctions but you'll see his style in the next chapter.**_


	12. Alien Mishaps

**_Sorry for bringing this to you guys so late. I really didn't like writing this chapter much just because of writer's block. Then it was a frustrating week to write, with me trying to settle with PC gaming, school almost starting and other things that really gave me no drive to write. Anyways, here it is and be sure to check out my newest project: The New Vegas Courier._**

* * *

A flip of a couple switches, a press of a button here and there, and we were ready. I, Three Dog, sat on a chair and yelled into the microphone in front of me, "Hello Wasteland, it is I your master. Here me and obey. Ha-ha! That's that _other_ radio station. We have a very special guest over here at Galaxy News and for this, we're gonna hear quite the tale. Keep in mind, everything you're about to hear is 100 percent true. So grab your Sugar Bombs, snatch your drinks, pull up a chair next to your radio and listen to the one, the only, Lone Wanderer." He turned off his microphone and looked at Max. "Go on. It won't bite ya."

"Um, alright." Max leaned toward the microphone in front of him. "Hello people of the wastes. I am apparently dubbed as 'The Lone Wanderer' by your God, Three Dog." He gave a small chuckle. "Okay, so have you heard that the great and pompous Mister Allistair Tenpenny was killed? If you did, did you hear he flew off his balcony hundreds of feet to his doom? If so, did you know I was with him? Yeah, I fell alongside him and lived. He didn't. Call bullshit on me but it's true."

We were quickly dragged to the clinic and next thing I knew, I woke up with three little… green men with giant heads and nasty bug eyes surrounding me. Next thing I see is this mechanic arm or something and it disappears under the cloth covering me and the pain it gave me knocked me out.

I was probed, basically. So after I was violated by robotics, I woke up in this cell. Like a jail cell but the ceiling was open, the wall curved away from the middle of the room, the door was some kind of electronic barrier and I was naked along with two other people there.

"Where am I," I asked, clutching the major headache I had. I was amazed I was able to even stand up. The night before, I needed a full body cast.

The only girl came up and told me it was about time I woke up. How she thought I was one of the ones that didn't survive. Her name was Somah and the other guy was Pierce. They were abducted weeks ago. I told them how I was just recently nabbed from a hospital bed before Pierce ran up to me in rage and tried to smash my face in but with one punch, Somah managed to knock him out, leaving him stranded in the middle of the room.

"Sorry about that," she said. "Since the probing, he hasn't been the same. I'm the only one he really doesn't flip out on too much. When he does though… you get this," she pointed to a knocked-out Pierce.

"It's fine… I just want to get out of here. I need to go back down to Earth to find my dad."

"Lucky for you, I've been coming up with a plan to get out of this cell but because of Pierce's condition, we couldn't really execute it. You and I, though, can…" she drifted off, looking at the open ceiling.

'What is it," I asked her. She shushed me as she listened intently to the sound of something revving.

"Oh God. Hug the walls!" She threw herself at the one behind her and pressed herself against it, as I did the same. Before I knew what was happening, a giant mechanical claw came over our sell, and lowered down slowly. "Pierce! Pierce, wake up!" He didn't wake up. She saw as the claw wrapped its mandibles around Pierce's body and lifted him up over the ceiling and away it went from where it came from. "Better him than me, I guess."

"What was that?"

"That claw thing comes to these cells every once in a while and picks them up for God-knows-what. They never come back, that's for sure." She sounded a bit relieved.

"So what's our escape plan?" She looked at me and told me how me and her should stage a fight, since the guards wouldn't have us fighting, and when they come in, we start punching the guards, take their weapons and find our stuff.

So ran the plan again to make it clear to me when she sucker punched me across the face! I put my arms in defense and I got to admit, it made me kinda laugh seeing a naked woman box. Nonetheless, after a few exchanged punches, we made the guards take notice and they disabled the barrier to come inside. I was astonished.

The little green men in white spacesuits came in wielding strange clubs that had electricity on the end. As one of the guards tried bringing down the baton down on me, I grabbed the free part of the handle and kicked the guard into letting it go before swinging it at its face. By this time, Somah already disarmed the other guard.

We decided to close the cell's barrier door, using some strange terminal that only relied on one push to get the job done.

"This way!" We ran down the hall when a little girl from a cell called out to us.

"Mister, mister," she cried. I heard her before we were completely out of earshot and ran back. She told Somah and I that if we were intent on escaping we'd need her and others locked in the holding cells to escape without dying. "Too do this, you need to go all the way down the hall, open the door and overload the generators."

So we ran the opposite way to where the girl told us and sure enough there was a generator. It was as strange one, though. It was in the shape of a curved jar that gave pulses of light. I saw a large button in front of it and three smaller versions of the generator popped around it. Somah and I pressed these back down, thinking we were doing things wrong, when the generator started making a deep, alarming sound, flashing pulses of light more violently.

We knew what was happening, so we ran out of the room, and closed the door. Down the hall in front of us, a door opened, and more alien guards came running in with their electric batons. Damn, we were in the deep shit. A few more seconds, and the guards were closer to us when the explosion happened, blowing out the door to the generator's room, forcing it through the air at high speeds, hitting the guards and killing them. 3 people emerged from the cells, including the little girl.

I pointed at the three dead guards hit by the door and told them to grab their batons, so they can defend themselves if the need should arise. I knelt down and asked the little girl her name.

"My name is Sally. Hurry, mister! We got to get our stuff! I know the way."

"How do you know the way?" In all truth, I felt really awkward being naked and talking to a little girl.

"I have been escaping my cell and exploring the ship for ages! If I'm ever going to find Captain Cosmos, I can't give up!" Yup, a little girl that has been exploring the ship for ages. Yes, I haven't been on any drugs at the time. Nor have I made this up.

"Exactly how old are you?"

"Hmm," she thought. "Tomorrow should make me 200 and three-quarters!" Yes, 200 year old girl in the body of a ten year-old.

"Can you take us to where our stuff is?"

"Sure thing! Follow me," she skipped down the hall where the aliens came from. "Stay here while I open the door." She opened a vent and crawled inside. She was gone. Moments of angst passed. Finally, she opened the door and we followed her lead, striking down any alien that came in our path. The strange lights and appearance of the ship itself didn't catch my eyes until we made it to a room. A very big room.

Walls were stacked high with containers and the room was filled with shelves full of items. I looked at the shelves' items and recognized almost everything. Knives, guns, clothes, medicines, just about everything that was and is in this world was there. I looked around for clothes, naturally. Some of the ones on the shelves were too small, too big, or were for women. At least Somah found clothes. Finally, I found a pair of boxer shorts to start myself off.

The four of us combed the shelves. Sally found clothes and even a teddy bear, Somah found some pants and a shirt, and the silent, mysterious female found clothes. All I found was boxers. "Either way, honey, that junk still looks good enough for me," Somah reaveled, winking at me! 'Oh God…' I thought. I stopped trying to find anything in the shelves and decided to look in the containers.

I got a ladder off the shelves and climbed it, searching the strange containers. These boxes were in the shape of a pill, almost. I press a button on its top and the sides open wide to show its secrets. I found a couple of guns, a knife, and some medicine, but no armor or clothing for me. I stood on the top of the ladder and looked around. Searching through the other boxes, I found nothing.

I searched around for at least one box I felt I haven't checked. Then, on the other wall, I saw a strange red block.

I climbed down, set the ladder up to the other wall and climbed. A quick button press later, I found this suit. It was a darker grey color. Full body suit with a mask with a yellow visor. I didn't know what it was, until I saw the Red Star on its back. It was Chinese. Maybe used in the War?

Under it was some kind of manual that read 'Chinese Army: Special Ops Training.' It talked about the suit I had. I really wanted to read it Sally said we had to hurry, so I took it with me and packed it in a pack I found. We followed Sally into a strange room, pipes against the walls and eerie echoes of mumbling guards. Sally said she might be able to sneak up on them and blow them to hell if she had a grenade, which Somah gladly gave her.

We waited as Sally crawled into a vent, then we heard an explosion followed by the sudden shrieks of the aliens down the opposite hall. We went down to where they were and took their strange weapons. They looked like pistols but on the side were small, turquoise-glowing tubes. It had a trigger like a regular pistol but a quick squeeze of said trigger shot a twinkling ball of light. Bad ass.

So we took their weapons, Somah and me had the alien pistols until we could find some for the others, and we continued to follow Sally to wherever she was leading us. We took down more of our alien abductors when Sally lead us to a doorway.

"It's cold in there, mister!" I opened the door, and was hit by a strong chill. It was so cold, the air come through the door in a dense cloud. I looked around at the colossal room. Pods littered the walls, almost stacked upon each other. I swear, there must've been at least a couple hundred. I went up to one, expecting aliens asleep but they were all human! Every pod had a human inside. These were even weirder since they were all fully clothed, and those clothes looked old. Not decaying old but, unseen in the wasteland old.

"Take them all out. Open the pods. All of them." Somah walked to one side of the room, and pressed one of the ship's many strange buttons. One by one, the pods opened and people climbed out of them. Men, women even children. The young and elderly. All come out of pods within the room. Husbands run and hug their families. Children embrace their siblings. It was a touching sight. It almost brought a tear to my eye. Then the remaining pods exploded.

Panic swept the room as people scrambled about like pre-war ants. A wall exploded and out came a team of aliens with their rifles, shooting at anything that moved.

"Everybody over here," Somah yelled, directing people through a door to another part of the ship. She and I provided covering fire but most of our shots were misses. One shot killed an alien but the vial of turquoise slipped out of the pistol as an empty piece of glass.

"Mister! Mister, help!" I looked around for where Sally was and saw her running into a corner far on the other side.

"Somah, get these people out of here and lock that door. I'm going to get Sally."

"No way. I'm not—"

"Get the fuck out of here!" She closed the door in front of her in haste before a nearby pod explosion knocked me down. I got up and ran to Sally. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

Sally looked around, confused and scared. "Mister? Where are you?"

"I'm right here, Sally."

"I-I don't see you!" I covered her mouth with my hand and finally understood her confusion. My arm was invisible. It was gone, vanished, concealed. My whole body was. One more pod exploded before the chaos stopped. The remaining commando squad of aliens started walking around the room, taking away the dead and those barely alive.

"Here," I lifted her up into an empty pod. "Hide in here, okay? I'll be back for you soon. Just stay here, don't move and don't make a sound."

"Don't go mister."

"I'll be back. I promise."

I snuck behind one of the searching aliens and sliced its neck with the knife I found. All this nasty, yellow-green blood came out. It was like the blood of a Radscorpion. One down, nine to go.

The next two were tricky. They stood together, side by side talking in their weird language of clicks, slurs and small cries. I took out a small .32 pistol I found earlier, shot one of them in its huge head then stabbed the other with the knife in the eye as it turned around.

The other aliens noticed I was there and started shooting their glowing projectiles at me, but it was funny. I decided to climb the wall of pods and was above them, but they started to shoot everything in front of them. I aimed and the five shots I gave off struck true, killing two, and incapacitating three.

The two remaining aliens started shooting at my direction so I jumped. I was probably on drugs, I'm not sure. But I jumped with my knife out and landed on one of the aliens, digging the knife into its throat. The other alien turned to its fallen comrade before I slashed my knife up its chin.

God, I'll tell you, sticking the knifes into those heartless bastards seemed so… right. I loved it. That rush I felt when I knew the sharp blade pierced their skin and killed them. It seemed more personal, considering the shit they did to countless others as well as to me.

"Let's see…," I pressed this small button on the left side of my chest and I turned visible again. I figured that when I fell from the explosion, the button was pressed and I turned invisible. Nice.

After looting their corpse of anything on them, like some strange epoxy gel, and weird but tasty squid food things, I went back to Sally and picked her up to go where Somah and the pod survivors went. Unfortunately, the door control for it was fried, thanks to those pods of death and destruction.

"I know another way to where they went."

"Alien ship explorer Sally saves the day," I cheered.

She giggled. "No. I didn't but I can help us get back to the others. It's really stinky though."

"Just lead the way."

So I followed her through this… portal thing and we ended in another room. She led me to an elevator and told me to take it down to the bottom floor as she entered another damn vent. It went down surprisingly fast, and it made my stomach feel like it was touching my heart. It stopped and the doors opened partially, revealing aliens who were stunned to see me as I was of them. They took out their guns but the doors already closed and continued going down.

Another stop showed an alien clad in a red jumpsuit pushing a cart of weapons. _I need those,_ I thought.

The next stop opened to aliens shooting at me, running to beat the elevator from closing. I took cover beside the door as they shot at me. One alien leaped in a desperate attempt to enter but the door suddenly closed and squished its head like glass and severing its outstretched arm. I rolled on my back laughing at what I just witnessed.

My laughing, though, turned to silence as the elevator took a sudden stop. I thought the doors would open to a new floor, but I was actually in between two floors. It was still another fifty down to the bottom. I wondered what was going on.

A shriek of grinding metal followed by the elevator suddenly falling, told me what had happened. I was falling so fast, I literally floated off the ground for a second before violently hitting the elevator floor, toppling over as the angled elevator's door opened spit me out. I hit the floor hard, hearing the all-too familiar sound of shattering bones.

"Mister! Are you okay?" Sally climbed down from a vent she was hiding in.

"Yeah," I wheezed, clutching my ribs.

"I'm sorry! If I knew that elevator would've fell, I wouldn't have let you on it!"

"It's alright. Trust me," God, it was hard to breath, especially with this damned mask on. "I just need some rest. Now listen, some ugly aliens up there know I'm down here. You got to hide."

"Yes, mister. It shouldn't be a problem hiding here!" I looked enough and I saw junk falling all over the place. Tattered clothes, metals, broken weapons, even bloody parts were being shot in here by tubes.

"Just find the least nasty pile to hide in and I'll get you when I'm done, got it?"

"Yes mister," she gave a hardy salute and ran off.

_God, _I thought, _what else is there trying to kill me? _I'd learn what I asked the hard way.

* * *

**_I'll finish this next chapter. Promise. Leave a review on your thoughts, advice, suggestions, spelling screw ups etc and be tuned for the next installment! *Bah bah-bah baaaaahhhhh!* Also, I've noticed I haven't been getting reviews for some chapters. I'd love some kind of feedback from you, my readers, because I am doing these for your enjoyment and am ever so curious to if I am delivering that._**

**_15=8-13: If you've noticed, I haven't updated in a while. I'm sorry for that, truly. But school has started, classes are hectic, and I can only have time on the weekends. I'll keep writing and post ASAP. Thanks._**

**_-M.A. Cunningham_**


End file.
